Nichols College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Nichols College

Nichols College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Dudley, Massachusetts (suburb: large), with a total reported enrollment of 1,163 students of which 1,223 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. Nichols College is categorized as “19” 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 80.8%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,140 and an ACT midpoint of 23. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $33,036, with published in-state tuition of $42,705 and a Pell grant recipient share of 25.5%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $27,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 63.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 72.5%. Graduates earn a median of $58,063 ten years after enrolling, compared with $47,830 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 83300.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 72.4% 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.