College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Vassar College

NYMedium private nonprofit institution · Overall rank #1154 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth places Vassar College in the 21st percentile overall.

Who it’s a good fit for

Vassar College is a private nonprofit university in Poughkeepsie, New York, where the largest degree families are Social Sciences and Biological Sciences. Access is above average, the strongest of the four , while affordability is below the levels seen at many peers.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them, and the typical graduate earns below the median at comparable schools. The model attributes an addition to the factors it measures and a subtraction to the remainder it cannot explain.

The lowest income band pays well below the published cost, while the highest band pays much closer to it. Affordability is below the levels seen at many peers.

The admission rate is well below the median for comparable institutions, and most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study. A student drawn to the social sciences should know that the largest departments are not the best-paid ones.

Vassar College at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
18.6%
Six-year completion[2]
91.1%
Four-year earnings[3]
$61,818

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$14,126
Median student debt[4]
$18,625
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$44,501

Vassar College rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Vassar College is a private nonprofit university in Poughkeepsie, New York, enrolling 2,444 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the lower third of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (21st percentile).

The university admits 18.6% of applicants, a rate far below the 71.2% median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Among full-time first-year students, 94.9% return for a second year and 91.1% finish within six years.

Both figures run well above the peer medians of 83.4% and 68.8%, respectively. The estimated share of entrants outside the first-time, full-time group is 1.2%, so the six-year graduation rate describes nearly the entire entering class.

The retention and completion figures, therefore, capture the experience of almost all students who begin at the college. The four pillars sit far apart.

Access is the strongest, while affordability is the weakest. Return and mobility sit between them, in the middle third of the field.

Access is the clearest part of Vassar College’s Azimuth profile, though affordability is far weaker. Among nonprofit four-year institutions, Azimuth places access in the 68th percentile and return in the 34th percentile.

Mobility stands in the 35th percentile. Affordability, the weakest pillar, is in the 9th percentile, so the access picture sits alongside a cost picture that needs close attention.

19.2% of undergraduates at Vassar College receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks Vassar College #469 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The access pillar is the strongest of the four for the university, and the Pell share is the primary input that gives it shape. The federal data for this school does not support a Pell completion assessment under our framework, so the access pillar rests on the financial-access measure alone.

Azimuth ranks Vassar College #948 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students.

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

Vassar College rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#1,154

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 35
Access & reach
National percentile: 68
Affordability
National percentile: 9
Return on investment
National percentile: 34

01 / Vassar College briefing

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

At Vassar College, the published cost of attendance is $87,419 (an average), and aid recipients face an average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, of $39,343. Published tuition and fees are $71,030, with room and board listed at $18,240.

Average financial aid reduces the published cost by $48,076 for aid recipients. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $27,371, and the college’s is above it by $11,972.

Azimuth places affordability in the 9th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The above-peer net price and low affordability standing point in the same direction.

At Vassar College, the published cost of attendance is $87,419 (an average across living arrangements), and aid recipients’ prices differ sharply by family income. Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $15,953 for families earning under $30,000; $14,548 for families earning $30,001–$48,000; $14,126 for families earning $48,001–$75,000; $25,773 for families earning $75,001–$110,000; and $56,615 for families earning over $110,000.

The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $40,662, and Azimuth ranks the college #1,293 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. For the average aid recipient, aid covers about 55% of the published cost, an average savings of $48,076 against the sticker price.

Across all aid recipients, average net price is $39,343, which is $11,972 above the peer median of $27,371 for comparable institutions (same type and size). Published tuition and fees are $71,030, with room and board at $18,240; the average price after aid remains above the comparable-school median.

Among borrowers who completed, median federal student loan debt is $18,625, and 72.5% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans. This is $5,574 below the $24,199 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Median Parent PLUS borrowing is $44,501. The median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $212 a month if repaid over ten years.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$14,126

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Vassar College

Borrowers who finish hold a median of $18,625 in federal loans, $5,574 below the $24,199 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). 72.5% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, has a median of $44,501. In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported that 43% of graduates borrowed from any source, including 40% with federal loans and 4% with private loans.

The average cumulative debt per borrower was $21,968, with federal borrowers averaging $17,010 and private borrowers averaging $57,090.

Vassar College leaves borrowers with lighter federal debt than comparable institutions, while median earnings four years after completion sit at the 56th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The median federal debt at completion is $18,625, $5,574 below the $24,199 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $212 a month if repaid over ten years. The median for federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled is $61,818 four years after graduation, a figure at the 56th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

They earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students. That result falls at the 7th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix show a typical outcome of $61,818, a downside case of $46,018, and an upside case of $92,340. The debt level is lower than at peers, while earnings sit below the model’s expectation, leaving the investment picture divided.

Parent borrowing merits separate attention: median Parent PLUS borrowing for parent borrowers is $44,501. The median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $212 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
$18,625
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$44,501

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$212/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$565/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 / Vassar College briefing

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

Access is Vassar College’s strongest pillar. Azimuth places its return pillar in the 34th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students. Azimuth puts earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, in the 7th 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 $2,199. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $18,897.

Median earnings are $61,818 four years after completion, in the 56th percentile. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $68,250, and Vassar College sits $6,432 below it. Both comparisons place earnings below their reference points.

Vassar College graduates post a middle-of-the-pack earnings figure, with a median of $61,818 four years after completion among federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. Azimuth places that median in the 56th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, using an earnings cohort of 503 completers.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, provide a less favorable second benchmark. Graduates earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students.

The program-mix model sets a typical earnings scenario at $61,818, with a downside scenario of $46,018 and an upside scenario of $92,340. An estimated 40.6% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.

The middle-range median sits alongside a broad modeled range and earnings below the model’s expectation.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $61,818, at the 56th percentile nationally. That is $6,432 below the $68,250 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks Vassar College #968 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students.

That places the gap at the 7th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $2,199.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $18,897. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $3,571.

The fields that pull earnings up are concentrated in a few programs, while the largest degree families are in the social sciences and biological sciences. Estimated from the program mix, the downside earnings scenario is $46,018 and the upside is $92,340.

An estimated 40.6% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

At Vassar College, field choice comes with a broad modeled earnings range. The typical earnings scenario is $61,818, with scenarios from $46,018 on the downside to $92,340 on the upside; these are modeled from the program mix, not observed groups of graduates.

Borrowing at Vassar College is lower than at comparable institutions, but that does not settle the broader cost-and-earnings picture. Among borrowers who completed, median federal student loan debt is $18,625.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $24,199, with Vassar below that figure by $5,574. That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $212 a month if repaid over ten years.

Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $39,343. It is above the $27,371 peer median by $11,972, though aid covers about 55% of the published cost for the average aid recipient.

Graduates earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students. Lower borrower debt sits alongside higher aid-recipient costs and below-expected earnings, so the return picture is mixed.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$2,199
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$18,897
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$16,698

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 / Vassar College briefing

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

Vassar College admitted 18.6% of applicants in the federal measure, a rate that describes the outcome for a reported applicant pool rather than an individual decision. That rate is below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size).

In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 12,430 first-year applicants, 2,307 admitted applicants, and 662 enrolled students.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
18.6%
25th percentile
1460
Median
1490
75th percentile
1520

CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Vassar College briefing

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

Vassar College shows a broad spread in program earnings four years after completion, separating its highest-earning fields from more moderate outcomes in other large programs. Computer and Information Sciences had median earnings of $124,469 and 41 degrees awarded, while Economics recorded $102,584 with 56 degrees awarded.

Political Science posted median earnings of $69,942 across 46 degrees awarded. Research and Experimental Psychology was closer to the moderate end, with $65,095 in median earnings and 53 degrees awarded.

The contrast between these fields means the school-level earnings picture can vary substantially with program choice.

Program earnings differ widely across Vassar College’s largest fields, making field choice particularly important. The large fields point to markedly different early-career earnings.

The program mix at Vassar College is anchored by the social sciences, with Social Sciences accounting for 22.1% of bachelor's degrees awarded, ahead of Biological Sciences at 11.7% and Visual & Performing Arts at 9.5%. The college has 15 programs with published four-year earnings data.

The largest program with published earnings is Economics, at 56 degrees awarded, followed by Research and Experimental Psychology at 53 and Political Science at 46. The highest-earning program is Computer and Information Sciences, where completers earn a median of $124,469 four years after completion.

That is a benchmark ratio of 1.35x against the national median for its field. The program awards 41 degrees a year.

The second-highest earner is Economics, the largest program on campus, with a median of $102,584 and a benchmark ratio of 1.24x. Earnings vary widely across the largest programs.

Biology completers earn a median of $45,359 four years after completion, which sits below the national median for its field. Earnings are highest in quantitative social sciences and computing.

Four-year earnings understate later trajectories for fields that commonly require advanced degrees. Across all fields, 31.6% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Economics 56 degrees awarded
$102,584
Research and Experimental Psychology 53 degrees awarded
$65,095
Mathematics 49 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
Political Science and Government 46 degrees awarded
$69,942
Computer and Information Sciences, General 41 degrees awarded
$124,469
Biology, General 41 degrees awarded
$45,359

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 / Vassar College briefing

How does Vassar College serve students from different backgrounds?

Access is Vassar College's strongest measured pillar, but mobility offers a more mixed picture for graduates. Graduates earn about $16,698 less than the model expects for similar students.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, is in the 7th percentile; Azimuth uses nonprofit four-year institutions for that position. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 91.1%.

Azimuth places the mobility pillar in the 35th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Completion is strong, yet modeled earnings fall short of expectations.

Vassar College has a tightly bounded entry profile, with an admission rate of 18.6% and undergraduate enrollment of 2,444 undergraduates. Pell Grant recipients represent 19.2% of undergraduates, and the estimated share of entrants outside the first-time, full-time group is 1.2%.

Its access pillar is in the 68th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The low admission rate sits alongside Pell participation and limited transfer entry.

06 / Vassar College briefing

What colleges are similar to Vassar 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 Vassar College.

Admissions peerWesleyan University16.5% admitted
Comparison with Vassar College
MeasureVassar CollegeWesleyan University
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,818$72,119+$10,301 vs Vassar College
Average annual net price$39,343$30,177-$9,166 vs Vassar College · lower cost
Admission rate18.6%16.5%
Higher-admission alternativeDrew University67.8% admitted
Comparison with Vassar College
MeasureVassar CollegeDrew University
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,818$59,259-$2,559 vs Vassar College
Average annual net price$39,343$24,280-$15,063 vs Vassar College · lower cost
Admission rate18.6%67.8%
Nearby alternativeSkidmore CollegeNearby option · NY
Comparison with Vassar College
MeasureVassar CollegeSkidmore College
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,818$61,281-$537 vs Vassar College
Average annual net price$39,343$32,297-$7,046 vs Vassar College · lower cost
Admission rate18.6%21.1%
Explore Skidmore College →
Higher-earnings alternativeNew York University$89,427 earnings
Comparison with Vassar College
MeasureVassar CollegeNew York University
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,818$89,427+$27,609 vs Vassar College
Average annual net price$39,343$37,050-$2,293 vs Vassar College · lower cost
Admission rate18.6%9.2%
Explore New York University →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Queens College$4,195 average net price
Comparison with Vassar College
MeasureVassar CollegeCUNY Queens College
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,818$68,713+$6,895 vs Vassar College
Average annual net price$39,343$4,195-$35,148 vs Vassar College · lower cost
Admission rate18.6%64.4%
Explore CUNY Queens College →
Similar profileSkidmore CollegeMatched across several measures
Comparison with Vassar College
MeasureVassar CollegeSkidmore College
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,818$61,281-$537 vs Vassar College
Average annual net price$39,343$32,297-$7,046 vs Vassar College · lower cost
Admission rate18.6%21.1%
Explore Skidmore College →

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