Wilkes University operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (city: small), with a reported undergraduate enrollment of 1,985 students. 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; Wilkes University is categorized as "Doctoral/Professional Universities" under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Admissions and cost fields are IPEDS-derived values published through the Scorecard and retain their source reporting periods. Average net price subtracts grant and scholarship aid from cost of attendance for full-time, first-time undergraduate Title IV recipients. It is a defined cohort average, not a personalized price; the income-band fields provide more context but still do not replace an institution's current net-price calculator.

Earnings use Treasury-derived records for federally aided former students who were working and not enrolled in the measurement year; the entry cohort includes completers and noncompleters. IPEDS completion and retention rates use separate first-time, full-time cohorts, so their denominator is not the earnings cohort. Read cost, completion, and earnings as distinct historical measures, not as a causal verdict or an individual forecast.