College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Keene State College

NHMedium public institution · Overall rank #903 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth's overall view is a mixed institutional profile.

Who it’s a good fit for

Keene State College is a public university in Keene, New Hampshire, where the degree mix is led by Engineering Technologies and Visual & Performing Arts. Mobility is above average.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them. The model attributes part of that to the factors it measures, which adds to expected earnings, while the remainder it cannot explain subtracts from them.

Return is modestly below average. Pell Grant recipients complete at a rate slightly above the entering cohort as a whole, and mobility is the strongest .

The lowest income band pays well below the published cost, while the highest pays closer to it. The admission rate is above the median for comparable schools, and most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study.

The largest program is also the highest-earning one, while the next-largest programs are not the next-best-paid.

Keene State College at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
90.3%
Six-year completion[2]
60.1%
Four-year earnings[3]
$58,191

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$16,045
Median student debt[4]
$25,749
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$37,874

Keene State College rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Keene State College is a public university in Keene, New Hampshire, enrolling 2,699 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the lower half of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (38th percentile).

The university admits 90.3% of applicants, a rate slightly above the 85.9% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Among full-time first-year students, 78.7% return for a second year, against a peer median of 73.7%.

The six-year graduation rate is 60.1%, compared with a peer median of 49.1%. An estimated 14.6% of undergraduates arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the six-year rate describes the first-time full-time cohort and not the entire student body.

The four pillars are not evenly matched. Mobility is the strongest, at the 71st percentile, while return and access both sit at the 31st percentile.

Affordability falls between them, at the 45th percentile. The shape is a public university where the strongest pillar is the one measuring how well Pell students finish, and the return pillar is the weakest of the four.

Mobility is the clearest favorable part of Keene State College’s profile, while return and access require more caution. Among nonprofit four-year institutions, mobility stands in the 71st percentile, the strongest pillar.

Affordability is in the 45th percentile. Return and access, the weakest areas, are each in the 31st percentile and 31st percentile, respectively. The stronger mobility reading sits beside lower return and access measures.

26.2% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. The university is a public university in Keene, New Hampshire, and the admission rate (90.3%) means most applicants are offered a place.

Azimuth ranks Keene State College #1,016 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. The access pillar draws on the Pell share and the completion rate for those students.

Pell recipients complete at 62.6%, which is 2.5 percentage points above the rate for the entering cohort as a whole. Azimuth ranks the university #431 for mobility.

The mobility pillar captures the combination of a Pell completion rate that sits above the overall rate and an admission rate that is broad. Graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students. The contrast here is between completion at scale and per-graduate earnings.

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

Keene State College rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#903

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 71
Access & reach
National percentile: 31
Affordability
National percentile: 45
Return on investment
National percentile: 31

01 / Keene State College briefing

Keene State College cost & financial aid[6][7]

Aid recipients at Keene State College face an average net price of $17,887, which sits above the comparable-institution benchmark after grants and scholarships. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported in-state tuition of $12,348, out-of-state tuition of $25,016, and required fees of $3,106 for the 2026-27 academic year.

These are published sticker charges, rather than net prices. The federal published cost of attendance for the standard budget is $29,993.

Average aid savings offset $12,106 of that published cost for aid recipients. At comparable institutions (same type and size), the peer median net price is $14,068, making Keene State College $3,819 above that benchmark.

Azimuth places the affordability pillar in the 45th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. A net price above peers and a middle-range affordability standing point in the same direction.

At Keene State College, the published cost of attendance is $29,993, but aid recipients face different average net prices across family-income bands. The is $12,192 in the lowest-income band, $12,536 in the lower-middle-income band, $16,045 in the middle-income band, $18,004 in the upper-middle-income band, and $22,928 in the highest-income band.

The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $10,736, and Azimuth ranks the university #772 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. For the average aid recipient, aid covers about 40% of the published cost, or average savings of $12,106.

Across all aid recipients, the average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $17,887. This sits $3,819 above the peer median net price of $14,068, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size).

The aid-adjusted price remains higher than the comparable-institution midpoint. Federal borrowing is common: 97.0% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

For borrowers who complete, median federal student loan debt is $25,749; that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $293 a month if repaid over ten years. The median is $4,520 above the peer median debt of $21,229 at comparable institutions (same type and size).

Median Parent PLUS borrowing is $37,874.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$16,045

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Keene State College

Federal loans are part of the financing picture for 97.0% of federal aid recipients at Keene State College. Completers who borrowed had median federal student loan debt of $25,749.

Comparable institutions (same type and size) have a peer median debt, the middle value, of $21,229. The college’s median is $4,520 above that benchmark.

For a separate parent-borrower population, median Parent PLUS debt is $37,874. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the college reported 81% of graduates borrowed from any source, with average cumulative debt of $43,877 per borrower.

The reported figures include 79% of graduates with federal loans, averaging $23,750. They also include 35% of graduates with private loans, averaging $45,590.

The federal median and peer comparison both point to higher borrowing than the comparable-college benchmark.

The investment picture at Keene State College is mixed: earnings sit below what the model expects, while debt runs above the peer median. Four years after completion, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $58,191, at the 44th percentile nationally.

Graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students, an outcome at the 25th percentile. Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, range from $46,926 in a downside case to $78,750 in an upside case, with $58,191 as the typical scenario.

Borrowers who finish carry a median of $25,749 in federal student loans, $4,520 above the $21,229 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $293 a month.

Parent borrowers have median Parent PLUS borrowing of $37,874, a figure separate from federal student borrowing. For student borrowers, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $293 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
$25,749
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$37,874

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$293/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$481/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 / Keene State College briefing

Keene State College career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

At Keene State College, mobility is its stronger pillar, but the return picture is uneven. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 31st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students. This earnings-beyond-expectations measure, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, falls in the 25th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $1,759. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $9,792.

Median earnings are $58,191 four years after completion, in the 44th percentile. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $57,301; the college's figure is $890 above it. Those peer and model comparisons point in different directions.

The earnings picture is mixed for Keene State College: median earnings are $58,191 four years after completion for federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. Azimuth places this earnings measure in the 44th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, using an earnings cohort of 1,211 completers.

Earnings scenarios based on the program mix place the downside at $46,926 and the upside at $78,750; the typical scenario matches the median. An estimated 28.1% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, show a less favorable comparison. Graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students.

The median supplies an earnings level, while the model comparison is less favorable.

Keene State College has a mixed return picture: its earnings sit above comparable institutions, yet graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students. Federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled have median earnings of $58,191 four years after completion, placing the figure in the 44th percentile.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $57,301, making the college’s figure $890 above it. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, is in the 25th percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $1,759. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $9,792.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,752. Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix range from $46,926 in the downside scenario to $78,750 in the upside scenario.

Azimuth ranks Keene State College #1,019 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. The peer comparison and the model expectation point in different directions.

Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians is the largest listed field, with 72 degrees awarded and median earnings of $87,710 four years after completion. Its earnings are 1.01x of the national median for its field.

Nursing awarded 24 degrees and has median earnings of $82,061 four years after completion, or 0.92x of its field’s national median.

The modeled range is wide, from $46,926 in the downside earnings scenario to $78,750 in the upside scenario, with $58,191 as the typical scenario. These scenarios are based on the program mix, not observed groups of graduates.

Among programs, median earnings four years after completion are $87,710 in Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians, $82,061 in Nursing, and $78,965 in Computer and Information Sciences. Those program results show why the earnings scenarios span a broad range.

At Keene State College, both borrowing and aid-recipient costs warrant attention beside the earnings record. Borrowers who completed leave with median federal student loan debt of $25,749.

For comparable institutions (same type and size), the peer median is $21,229, placing Keene State’s figure above it by $4,520. That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $293 a month if repaid over ten years.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $17,887. It is above the $14,068 peer median by $3,819.

Aid covers about 40% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, and the spread between the lowest and highest income bands is $10,736. Graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students.

Debt and net price both sit above peer figures while earnings fall short of the model’s expectation.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$1,759
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$9,792
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$8,033

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / Keene State College briefing

Keene State College acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Keene State College admits a large share of applicants, with an admission rate of 90.3%. That is above the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size).

In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the college reported 6,269 first-year applicants, 5,631 admitted applicants, and 657 enrolled first-year students.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
90.3%
25th percentile
860
Median
1050
75th percentile
1240

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

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Keene State College briefing

What are the largest majors at Keene State College?[12]

At Keene State College, four-year earnings after completion vary enough across fields that the program selected shapes the return picture. Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians is at the higher end, with median earnings of $87,710 and 72 degrees awarded.

Nursing also posts $82,061 in median earnings, across 24 degrees awarded. More moderate outcomes appear in Psychology, where median earnings are $51,904 four years after completion and 66 degrees were awarded.

Teacher Education records $48,940 with 57 degrees awarded. The contrast between these fields shows that the school’s overall earnings figure can mask materially different program-level results.

Program outcomes vary widely, with Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians standing apart among the largest fields. Across 26 fields with published earnings data, it awarded 72 degrees and had median earnings of $87,710 four years after completion.

Business Administration and Management awarded 61 degrees and shows $69,674; Teacher Education awarded 57 degrees and shows $48,940 at the same point. Field choice coincides with a broad earnings range.

The bachelor's degrees at Keene State College are spread across a wide range of fields, with no single family dominating the mix. Engineering Technologies accounts for 10.5% of degrees awarded, followed closely by Visual & Performing Arts at 9.9% and Education at 8.8%.

The largest single program is Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians, with 72 degrees awarded, while Psychology and Business Administration and Management follow at 66 and 61 degrees awarded, respectively. Across the institution, 26 programs have published four-year earnings data.

The highest-earning program is also the largest: Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians graduates earn a median of $87,710 four years after completion. Nursing, a smaller program with 24 degrees awarded, is the second-highest-earning at $82,061.

Computer and Information Sciences and Biology round out the top earners, with medians of $78,965 and $72,593 from 9 and 23 degrees awarded, respectively. Biology carries a benchmark ratio of 1.27x against the national median for its field.

The pattern here is one of breadth rather than concentration, with the largest programs spanning technical, social science, and professional fields. The highest earnings are concentrated in technical and health-related programs, while several of the largest programs, such as Psychology and Teacher Education, sit at the lower end of the earnings range.

20.6% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields, a share that aligns with the presence of a strong technical program alongside a broad liberal arts base.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians 72 degrees awarded
$87,710
Psychology, General 66 degrees awarded
$51,904
Business Administration, Management and Operations 61 degrees awarded
$69,674
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods 57 degrees awarded
$48,940
Criminal Justice and Corrections 44 degrees awarded
$53,291
Sociology 40 degrees awarded
$47,885

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 / Keene State College briefing

How does Keene State College serve students from different backgrounds?

Completion is the clearest strength in Keene State College’s mobility profile: the first-time full-time cohort has a 60.1% six-year graduation rate. Pell recipients complete within six years at 62.6%, above the overall rate by 2.5 percentage points.

Azimuth puts mobility in the 71st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, sits in the 25th percentile.

Graduates earn about $8,033 less than the model expects for similar students. Completion is stronger here than the earnings-beyond-expectations picture.

A 90.3% admission rate gives Keene State College a broadly open front door for applicants. Azimuth assigns its access pillar to the 31st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The public university enrolls 2,699 undergraduates; 26.2% receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 14.6% enter as transfers or part-time students. Those figures show access through admissions, grant participation, and more than one route into undergraduate study.

06 / Keene State College briefing

What colleges are similar to Keene State 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 Keene State College.

Admissions peerWorcester State University88.0% admitted
Comparison with Keene State College
MeasureKeene State CollegeWorcester State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$58,191$63,801+$5,610 vs Keene State College
Average annual net price$17,887$13,381-$4,506 vs Keene State College · lower cost
Admission rate90.3%88.0%
Explore Worcester State University →
Nearby alternativeVermont State UniversityNearby option · VT
Comparison with Keene State College
MeasureKeene State CollegeVermont State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$58,191$56,249-$1,942 vs Keene State College
Average annual net price$17,887$18,212+$325 vs Keene State College · higher cost
Admission rate90.3%81.7%
Explore Vermont State University →
Higher-earnings alternativeUniversity of Massachusetts-Lowell$81,163 earnings
Comparison with Keene State College
MeasureKeene State CollegeUniversity of Massachusetts-Lowell
Peer earnings · 4 years$58,191$81,163+$22,972 vs Keene State College
Average annual net price$17,887$17,163-$724 vs Keene State College · lower cost
Admission rate90.3%83.0%
Explore University of Massachusetts-Lowell →
Lower-cost alternativeRhode Island College$9,478 average net price
Comparison with Keene State College
MeasureKeene State CollegeRhode Island College
Peer earnings · 4 years$58,191$59,430+$1,239 vs Keene State College
Average annual net price$17,887$9,478-$8,409 vs Keene State College · lower cost
Admission rate90.3%91.8%
Explore Rhode Island College →
Similar profileSUNY College of Technology at CantonMatched across several measures
Comparison with Keene State College
MeasureKeene State CollegeSUNY College of Technology at Canton
Peer earnings · 4 years$58,191$57,422-$769 vs Keene State College
Average annual net price$17,887$15,268-$2,619 vs Keene State College · lower cost
Admission rate90.3%92.2%

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 is 150% of the federal poverty guideline for one person, for the year the API serves. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. The parent table is the 10-year payment on the median Parent PLUS as a share of household income above 200% of the guideline for a household of three: under 6% Safe, 6–10% Caution, over 10% High pressure. 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