How this school serves students from different economic backgrounds, including Pell students, first-generation pathways, and long-term mobility outcomes.
Old Dominion University admits about 90.4% of applicants, making it broadly accessible to a wide range of students. Among enrolled undergraduates, 36.8% receive Pell Grants and 33.2% are first-generation college students — figures that reflect the university's deep roots in serving working families and military-connected communities across the Hampton Roads region. Transfer enrollment is substantial at 40.2%, signaling that Old Dominion functions as a meaningful destination for students who begin their academic path elsewhere. Azimuth ranks Old Dominion University #245 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. What happens to those students after enrollment is the more consequential question. The six-year graduation rate stands at 46.3%, with 48.5% of Pell-eligible students completing within that window — a completion pattern that matters given how large the Pell cohort is at Old Dominion. Freshman retention runs at 76.9%. For graduates from low-income backgrounds, median earnings reach $45,900 on a historical ten-year Scorecard measure, placing this cohort in the 58.8 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks Old Dominion University #122 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's dominant strength in health programs — a field that combines broad enrollment with stable, in-demand careers — helps anchor the mobility story, connecting access at scale with outcomes that hold up over time for students who start with fewer resources. As Azimuth's analysis of access versus outcomes explores, the institutions that move the needle on economic mobility are often those that serve large Pell cohorts and still deliver durable earnings — a pattern Old Dominion reflects.
Old Dominion University admits about 90.4% of applicants, making it broadly accessible to a wide range of students. Among enrolled undergraduates, 36.8% receive Pell Grants and 33.2% are first-generation college students — figures that reflect the university's deep roots in serving working families and military-connected communities across the Hampton Roads region. Transfer enrollment is substantial at 40.2%, signaling that Old Dominion functions as a meaningful destination for students who begin their academic path elsewhere. Azimuth ranks Old Dominion University #245 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. What happens to those students after enrollment is the more consequential question. The six-year graduation rate stands at 46.3%, with 48.5% of Pell-eligible students completing within that window — a completion pattern that matters given how large the Pell cohort is at Old Dominion. Freshman retention runs at 76.9%. For graduates from low-income backgrounds, median earnings reach $45,900 on a historical ten-year Scorecard measure, placing this cohort in the 58.8 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks Old Dominion University #122 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's dominant strength in health programs — a field that combines broad enrollment with stable, in-demand careers — helps anchor the mobility story, connecting access at scale with outcomes that hold up over time for students who start with fewer resources. As Azimuth's analysis of access versus outcomes explores, the institutions that move the needle on economic mobility are often those that serve large Pell cohorts and still deliver durable earnings — a pattern Old Dominion reflects.
Old Dominion University admits about 90.4% of applicants, making it broadly accessible to a wide range of students. Among enrolled undergraduates, 36.8% receive Pell Grants and 33.2% are first-generation college students — figures that reflect the university's deep roots in serving working families and military-connected communities across the Hampton Roads region. Transfer enrollment is substantial at 40.2%, signaling that Old Dominion functions as a meaningful destination for students who begin their academic path elsewhere. Azimuth ranks Old Dominion University #245 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. What happens to those students after enrollment is the more consequential question. The six-year graduation rate stands at 46.3%, with 48.5% of Pell-eligible students completing within that window — a completion pattern that matters given how large the Pell cohort is at Old Dominion. Freshman retention runs at 76.9%. For graduates from low-income backgrounds, median earnings reach $45,900 on a historical ten-year Scorecard measure, placing this cohort in the 58.8 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks Old Dominion University #122 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's dominant strength in health programs — a field that combines broad enrollment with stable, in-demand careers — helps anchor the mobility story, connecting access at scale with outcomes that hold up over time for students who start with fewer resources. As Azimuth's analysis of access versus outcomes explores, the institutions that move the needle on economic mobility are often those that serve large Pell cohorts and still deliver durable earnings — a pattern Old Dominion reflects.
