University of Wisconsin-Madison

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

University of Wisconsin-Madison operates as a public institution located in Madison, Wisconsin (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 36,902 students of which 39,637 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-Madison is categorized as “15” 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 45.2%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,427 and an ACT midpoint of 29. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $17,354, with published in-state tuition of $11,603 and a Pell grant recipient share of 15.9%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $20,484, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 89.4%, and the first-year retention rate is 96.2%. Graduates earn a median of $73,792 ten years after enrolling, compared with $61,275 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 729100.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 80.0% 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.