College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Haverford College

PASmall private nonprofit institution · Overall rank #536 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks Haverford College #536 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

Haverford College is a private nonprofit university in Pennsylvania where the Social Sciences and Biological Sciences account for the largest shares of degrees. Return is the strongest , and it is above average.

Graduates earn above the median at comparable schools. Most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study.

Aid covers a large portion of the published cost for the average aid recipient, and what families pay varies by income. Access is modestly below average, the weakest of the four pillars.

The admission rate is below the median for comparable schools. A student drawn to the largest programs with published earnings should know that the best-paid one, Economics, earns more four years out than Political Science.

Haverford College at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
12.4%
Six-year completion[2]
89.6%
Four-year earnings[3]
$64,523

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$12,007
Median student debt[4]
$13,621
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$40,000

Haverford College rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Haverford College is a private nonprofit university in Haverford, Pennsylvania, enrolling 1,430 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the middle of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (64th percentile).

The college admits 12.4% of applicants, a rate far below the 75.7% median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Among full-time first-year students, 93.8% return for a second year and 89.6% finish within six years.

Those figures sit well above the peer medians of 74.2% and 54.9%, respectively. An estimated 1.8% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the six-year rate describes nearly the entire entering class.

The four pillars spread across the ranking: return is the strongest, at the 72nd percentile, and access is the weakest, at the 42nd percentile. Mobility and affordability sit between them, at the 61st and 53rd percentiles.

Azimuth evaluates Haverford College across four pillars among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. Return is the strongest, in the 72nd percentile, while access is the weakest, in the 42nd percentile.

Mobility sits in the 61st percentile and affordability in the 53rd percentile. The profile is one of strong earnings outcomes alongside a more constrained access picture.

15.4% of undergraduates at Haverford College receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks Haverford College #851 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The access pillar draws on the Pell share and on completion outcomes for those students. Because the federal data for this school does not support a Pell completion rate under our framework, the access pillar rests on the Pell share alone. The mobility pillar sits higher, at a rank of #456 nationally.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

Haverford College rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#536

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 61
Access & reach
National percentile: 42
Affordability
National percentile: 53
Return on investment
National percentile: 72

01 / Haverford College briefing

Haverford College cost & financial aid[6][7]

The published cost of attendance at Haverford College is $90,382, with tuition and fees of $70,688 and room and board of $19,548. For the average aid recipient, however, the actual price is far lower.

The average net price—what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships—is $25,314, a savings of $65,068 against the sticker price. That net price is $2,967 above the $22,347 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #659 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The published cost of attendance at Haverford College is $90,382. Azimuth ranks the university #659 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients from families earning under $30,000 is $7,531, for those earning $48,001 to $75,000 it is $12,007, and for those earning over $110,000 it is $45,991. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $38,460.

Aid covers about 72% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, bringing the across all bands to $25,314. That is $2,967 above the $22,347 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Borrowers who finish carry a median of $13,621 in federal student loans, $11,379 below the $25,000 peer median. 63.7% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

Parents who borrow hold a separate median of $40,000 in Parent PLUS loans. If repaid over ten years, the median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $155 a month.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$12,007

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Haverford College

At Haverford College, median federal debt for completers is $13,621. 63.7% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

That is $11,379 below the $25,000 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, the estimated payment is $155 a month.

Parent borrowers hold a separate median of $40,000 in Parent PLUS. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that 16% of graduates borrowed from any source.

Average cumulative debt was $13,015 per borrower. 15% of graduates had federal loans averaging $12,406. It also included 3% of graduates with private loans averaging $25,163.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $64,523. That is $8,608 above the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size), and places Haverford College in the 64th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, range from a downside of $51,762 to an upside of $95,777, with the typical scenario at $64,523. On the debt side, median federal student debt at completion is $13,621, which is $11,379 below the peer median—the midpoint for comparable institutions.

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $155 a month if repaid over ten years. Median earnings four years after completion are above the peer median, and median federal student debt at completion is below the peer median.

For the separate population of parent borrowers, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $40,000. For student borrowers, the median federal debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $155 a month if repaid over ten years.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$13,621
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$40,000

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$155/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$508/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / Haverford College briefing

Haverford College career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Graduates of Haverford College achieve strong earnings outcomes. Azimuth places the return pillar for Haverford College in the 72nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $64,523. That figure is $8,608 above the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size), and sits in the 64th percentile nationally.

The earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, show a wide spread. The downside earnings scenario is $51,762, the typical is $64,523, and the upside reaches $95,777.

The highest-earning program is Economics at $112,050. The largest program with published earnings is Political Science at $62,242.

Haverford College graduates earn a median of $64,523 four years after completion, based on an earnings cohort of 166 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. That is $8,608 above the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth places the earnings measure in the 64th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix put the typical figure at $64,523, with a downside scenario of $51,762 and an upside scenario of $95,777.

These are scenarios, not observed groups of graduates. An estimated 44.5% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

That means the four-year earnings picture captures most but not all graduates' immediate paths.

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix range from $51,762 on the downside to $95,777 on the upside, with a typical scenario of $64,523. These are scenarios, not observed groups of graduates.

At the higher end, Economics graduates earn a median of $112,050 four years after completion, from 23 degrees awarded a year. The largest program with published earnings, Political Science, reports a median of $62,242 from 35 degrees awarded.

The two figures sit far apart, reflecting the different program clusters that make up the earnings scenarios.

The published cost of attendance at Haverford College is $90,382, but aid covers about 72% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $25,314, which is $2,967 above the $22,347 peer median.

The spread between the lowest and highest income bands is $38,460, so what a family pays depends heavily on income. Borrowers who finish carry a median of $13,621 in federal student loans, $11,379 below the $25,000 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

If repaid over ten years, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $155 a month. Parents who borrow hold a separate median of $40,000 in Parent PLUS loans.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / Haverford College briefing

Haverford College acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Haverford College admits 12.4% of applicants, a figure far below the median of 75.7% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 6,730 first-year applicants and 896 admitted students, with 397 enrolling.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
12.4%
25th percentile
1460
Median
1490
75th percentile
1530

CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Haverford College briefing

What are the largest majors at Haverford College?[12]

Two programs carry the earnings picture at Haverford College, and they sit far apart. Economics graduates earn a median of $112,050 four years after completion, from 23 degrees awarded.

Political Science, the largest program with published earnings at 35 degrees a year, reports $62,242. The gap between the two is wide, and the higher-earning field is the smaller one.

A student choosing between them is choosing between very different earnings outcomes four years out. With only 2 programs reporting earnings, the view is narrow.

The available figures show one program earning well above the national median for its field and the other close to it.

Social Sciences accounts for 25.5% of bachelor's degrees awarded, followed by Biological Sciences at 15.1% and Psychology at 11.3%. The largest program with published earnings is Political Science, with 35 degrees awarded a year and median earnings of $62,242 four years after completion.

Economics is the highest-earning program, at $112,050 from 23 degrees awarded. The earnings gap between the two is wide: graduates of the top-earning program earn nearly twice the median of the largest program. The two reported programs show a wide earnings spread.

Haverford College awards bachelor's degrees across a small number of fields, with only 2 programs carrying published four-year earnings data. The degree mix is led by the social sciences: Social Sciences accounts for 25.5% of degrees awarded, followed by Biological Sciences at 15.1% and Psychology at 11.3%.

The largest program with published earnings is Political Science, at 35 degrees a year. Graduates earn a median of $62,242 four years after completion, which is 0.98x the national median for the field.

The highest-earning program is Economics, with 23 degrees awarded and median earnings of $112,050. That figure is 1.35x the national median for the field.

The pattern here is concentrated: the two programs with earnings data sit in the social sciences, and the highest-earning one pays nearly twice what the largest one does. A student drawn to the largest department should know that its earnings sit just below the national benchmark for the field. The smaller economics program clears it by a wide margin.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Biology, General 46 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
Research and Experimental Psychology 38 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
Political Science and Government 35 degrees awarded
$62,242
Computer and Information Sciences, General 32 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
Mathematics 24 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
Economics 23 degrees awarded
$112,050

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / Haverford College briefing

What colleges are similar to Haverford College?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with Haverford College.

Admissions peerBarnard College8.8% admitted
Comparison with Haverford College
MeasureHaverford CollegeBarnard College
Peer earnings · 4 years$64,523$72,527+$8,004 vs Haverford College
Average annual net price$25,314$28,800+$3,486 vs Haverford College · higher cost
Admission rate12.4%8.8%
Higher-admission alternativeUrsinus College91.8% admitted
Comparison with Haverford College
MeasureHaverford CollegeUrsinus College
Peer earnings · 4 years$64,523$65,033+$510 vs Haverford College
Average annual net price$25,314$30,536+$5,222 vs Haverford College · higher cost
Admission rate12.4%91.8%
Nearby alternativeSwarthmore CollegeNearby option · PA
Comparison with Haverford College
MeasureHaverford CollegeSwarthmore College
Peer earnings · 4 years$64,523$65,618+$1,095 vs Haverford College
Average annual net price$25,314$23,149-$2,165 vs Haverford College · lower cost
Admission rate12.4%7.5%
Explore Swarthmore College →
Higher-earnings alternativeYale University$112,971 earnings
Comparison with Haverford College
MeasureHaverford CollegeYale University
Peer earnings · 4 years$64,523$112,971+$48,448 vs Haverford College
Average annual net price$25,314$23,777-$1,537 vs Haverford College · lower cost
Admission rate12.4%3.9%
Explore Yale University →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Queens College$4,195 average net price
Comparison with Haverford College
MeasureHaverford CollegeCUNY Queens College
Peer earnings · 4 years$64,523$68,713+$4,190 vs Haverford College
Average annual net price$25,314$4,195-$21,119 vs Haverford College · lower cost
Admission rate12.4%64.4%
Explore CUNY Queens College →
Similar profileCaldwell UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with Haverford College
MeasureHaverford CollegeCaldwell University
Peer earnings · 4 years$64,523$64,716+$193 vs Haverford College
Average annual net price$25,314$24,691-$623 vs Haverford College · lower cost
Admission rate12.4%71.3%

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings