Northwestern State University of Louisiana

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Northwestern State University of Louisiana

Northwestern State University of Louisiana operates as a public institution located in Natchitoches, Louisiana (town: remote), with a total reported enrollment of 5,519 students of which 9,367 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 State University of Louisiana is categorized as “18” 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 92.5%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,088 and an ACT midpoint of 19. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $13,606, with published in-state tuition of $8,864 and a Pell grant recipient share of 35.2%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $25,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 43.9%, and the first-year retention rate is 70.9%. Graduates earn a median of $47,021 ten years after enrolling, compared with $39,485 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 330600.0% 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.