Lafayette College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Lafayette College

Lafayette College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Easton, Pennsylvania (suburb: large), with a total reported enrollment of 2,757 students of which 2,796 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. Lafayette College is categorized as “21” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 31.4%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,424 and an ACT midpoint of 32. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $34,433, with published in-state tuition of $65,398 and a Pell grant recipient share of 11.7%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $16,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 87.8%, and the first-year retention rate is 89.7%. Graduates earn a median of $91,410 ten years after enrolling, compared with $80,614 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 59300.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 85.2% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.