Vassar College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Vassar College

Vassar College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Poughkeepsie, New York (suburb: large), with a total reported enrollment of 2,444 students of which 2,609 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. Vassar College 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 18.6%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,494 and an ACT midpoint of 33. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $39,343, with published in-state tuition of $71,030 and a Pell grant recipient share of 19.2%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $18,625, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 90.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 94.9%. Graduates earn a median of $71,366 ten years after enrolling, compared with $49,177 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 50900.0% 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.