Northwestern College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Northwestern College

Northwestern College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Orange City, Iowa (town: distant), with a total reported enrollment of 1,175 students of which 1,290 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. Northwestern 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 80.4%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey and an ACT midpoint of 24. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $25,907, with published in-state tuition of $36,710 and a Pell grant recipient share of 24.7%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $23,249, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 64.8%, and the first-year retention rate is 73.5%. Graduates earn a median of $49,802 ten years after enrolling, compared with $46,731 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 58300.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 68.8% 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.