Southern Virginia University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Southern Virginia University

Southern Virginia University operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Buena Vista, Virginia (town: distant), with a total reported enrollment of 936 students of which 1,055 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. Southern Virginia University is categorized as “21” 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 96.4%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey and an ACT midpoint of 22. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $22,213, with published in-state tuition of $21,280 and a Pell grant recipient share of 45.2%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $24,224, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 36.0%, and the first-year retention rate is 74.0%. Graduates earn a median of $50,002 ten years after enrolling, compared with $36,988 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 47300.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 43.7% 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.