🎓 College profile
Carleton College
MN · Private nonprofit · Distant town · 6,464 applicants 2023
🧭 A parent's read
- Built for the AI economy. About 1 in 7 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- Kids finish — on time. 90% graduate in four years. Nationally, barely half do — and a fifth year elsewhere quietly adds $30–70k to the real price. On-time completion is the most underrated ROI number in this decision.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 3% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 53% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- The 7× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$84,893/yr, and many families above ~$110K income won't qualify for need-based aid here. Families who do receive aid average ~$25,407/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~7× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
🎯 Parent/student verdict
Strong targetSelective but achievable for strong students.
✅ Best for
- Strong academic profiles — admitted students cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
- A long-term payoff that holds even at full price — median 10-yr earnings of $75,525 return ~2.2× the ~$84,893/yr sticker over a decade (aid recipients average ~$25,407/yr)
🎯 The reality
- Bottom-quartile academic profile if: SAT below 1430, or ACT below 32, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (admitted-class quartiles; GPA floor is a calibrated heuristic where CDS not yet on file)
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
🏛️ 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 families at your income actually pay
Above $110K income — where most Reach families sit — aid-receiving families average $44,082/yr at Carleton College; families who don't qualify for aid pay the full ~$84,893/yr. Lower brackets pay less — the full ladder is below. One caveat, once: every bracket figure here averages only the families in that bracket who received aid — it says nothing about whether your family will qualify.
🔎 Earning over $110K? You're above the top federal bracket — the median family headed by a 45-to-54-year-old (the prime college-parent years) earned about $134K in 2024, and the federal data lumps everyone from $110K to $1M+ into one row.
Whether you'll get need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats. at this income is entirely college-specific: a few heavily-endowed schools meet full need well past $150K, while many others give little above the brackets shown — there, merit scholarships, where offered, become the realistic lever.
Start your Family Decision Report →Your odds + estimated net price across your whole college list — then confirm the exact figure with Carleton College's own Net Price Calculator ↗ (10–15 min; have your tax return handy).
📈 The payoffTen years of typical earnings divided by four years of cost. A 3× means a decade of median pay covers the cost three times over — check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you., both ways
2.2× at full price 7.4× with aidSource: College Scorecard (NPT41–NPT45; Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates; suppressed brackets = small cohorts; the $110K+ ceiling is a federal data limitation — the brackets haven't been refreshed since the early 2010s). Payoff multiple = (10-yr median earnings × 10) ÷ (4-yr cost); 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 Carleton College
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Carleton College actually graduates — not just what it markets.
💼 What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Carleton College's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Economics. | $87,193 |
| Political Science and Government. | $53,975 |
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 →
📈 Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. Why it matters even if you're full-pay: a high mobility rate means the campus itself confers earnings power — the outcomes aren't just selection effects.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
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