South Carolina State University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for South Carolina State University

South Carolina State University operates as a public institution located in Orangeburg, South Carolina (town: distant), with a total reported enrollment of 2,934 students of which 3,059 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. South Carolina State University is categorized as “20” 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 82.6%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey and an ACT midpoint of 17. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $18,097, with published in-state tuition of $11,060 and a Pell grant recipient share of 70.5%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $31,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 32.7%, and the first-year retention rate is 56.5%. Graduates earn a median of $38,262 ten years after enrolling, compared with $30,064 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 239100.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 39.9% 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.