Liberty University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Liberty University

Liberty University operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Lynchburg, Virginia (city: small), with a total reported enrollment of 50,012 students of which 72,005 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. Liberty University is categorized as “17” 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 99.0%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $29,357, with published in-state tuition of $22,465 and a Pell grant recipient share of 38.3%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $24,500, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 64.4%, and the first-year retention rate is 80.1%. Graduates earn a median of $44,813 ten years after enrolling, compared with $39,707 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 3309900.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 60.6% 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.