Lees-McRae College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Lees-McRae College

Lees-McRae College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Banner Elk, North Carolina (rural: distant), with a total reported enrollment of 873 students of which 862 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. Lees-McRae College is categorized as “22” 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 76.8%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey and an ACT midpoint of 23. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $28,340, with published in-state tuition of $33,250 and a Pell grant recipient share of 37.3%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $17,375, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 43.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 68.8%. Graduates earn a median of $43,415 ten years after enrolling, compared with $41,599 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 57000.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 52.3% 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.