College profile
Bluefield University
VA · Private nonprofit · Distant town · 1,057 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The 5× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$42,539/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$25,573/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~5× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Worth asking: do students finish? Only 18% graduate within six years here — the standard federal measure. Ask what drives that: course availability, transfers out, students working long hours. Not finishing is the costliest outcome there is.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students.
Best for
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Bluefield University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Bluefield University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$319K ahead at full price +$387K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Bluefield University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Bluefield University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Bluefield University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | $91,278 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $63,715 |
| Criminal Justice and Corrections. | $56,811 |
| Human Services, General. | $43,789 |
| Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness. | $41,595 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Bluefield University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Bluefield University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
Or compare any college side-by-side
Deciding on Bluefield University?
Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Bluefield University and every other college on your list.
Get your child's odds at Bluefield University →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
For Parents
Get alerts when Bluefield University's numbers change
New admit rates, costs, and outcomes — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.
Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantBluefield University is a private nonprofit four-year college in VA. It admitted 63% of applicants (1,057 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $25,573 a year on average with aid, $42,539 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $48,896 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $386,668 ahead with aid, $318,804 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($91,278); Business Administration, Management and Operations ($63,715); Criminal Justice and Corrections ($56,811).
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/bluefield-university.json