University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse operates as a public institution located in La Crosse, Wisconsin (city: small), with a total reported enrollment of 9,277 students of which 9,894 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. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 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 75.5%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,220 and an ACT midpoint of 24. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $16,210, with published in-state tuition of $10,070 and a Pell grant recipient share of 14.4%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $22,500, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 71.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 86.5%. Graduates earn a median of $60,378 ten years after enrolling, compared with $49,626 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 331800.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 76.3% 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.