Southwest Minnesota State University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Southwest Minnesota State University

Southwest Minnesota State University operates as a public institution located in Marshall, Minnesota (town: remote), with a total reported enrollment of 2,315 students of which 8,300 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. Southwest Minnesota State University 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 62.2%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,050. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $15,291, with published in-state tuition of $10,361 and a Pell grant recipient share of 12.1%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $20,500, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 44.6%, and the first-year retention rate is 73.7%. Graduates earn a median of $51,342 ten years after enrolling, compared with $43,282 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 145900.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 67.3% 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.