Sterling College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Sterling College

Sterling College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Sterling, Kansas (rural: remote), with a total reported enrollment of 538 students of which 779 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. Sterling College is categorized as “22” 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 48.2%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey and an ACT midpoint of 22. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $22,371, with published in-state tuition of $33,700 and a Pell grant recipient share of 37.1%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $24,625, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 34.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 50.3%. Graduates earn a median of $45,846 ten years after enrolling, compared with $40,722 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 45600.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 57.6% 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.