Williams College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Williams College

Williams College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts (town: fringe), with a total reported enrollment of 2,076 students of which 2,270 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. Williams 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 8.3%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,533. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $17,716, with published in-state tuition of $68,560 and a Pell grant recipient share of 17.6%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $12,761, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 95.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 96.9%. Graduates earn a median of $88,665 ten years after enrolling, compared with $71,754 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 25800.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 68.0% 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.