Worcester Polytechnic Institute

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester Polytechnic Institute operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Worcester, Massachusetts (city: midsize), with a total reported enrollment of 5,447 students of which 5,756 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. Worcester Polytechnic Institute is categorized as “16” 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 60.2%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $43,071, with published in-state tuition of $60,965 and a Pell grant recipient share of 11.9%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $27,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 89.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 93.7%. Graduates earn a median of $103,470 ten years after enrolling, compared with $85,038 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 130900.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 89.9% 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.