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🎓 College profile

Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois

PA · Public · Remote town · 481 applicants 2023

92% admit rate SAT 1060–1250 $28,530/yr full price

🧭 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.
  • Worth asking: the four-year finish rate. Only 34% finish in four years here. Ask what drives that — course availability, transfers, work loads — because a fifth year is a real cost few families budget for.

Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.

Get your child's odds at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Match / Likely + your real net price. Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois starts already on the list. Start →

🎯 Parent/student verdict

Likely

Accessible for most applicants. Major value play for in-state residents.

✅ Best for

  • In-state residents (tuition ~$14,408 — major value play)
  • Students drawn to Family & Consumer Sciences or Business, Management, & Marketing (the two biggest majors)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

🎯 The reality

  • Bottom-quartile academic profile if: SAT below 1060 (admitted-class quartiles; GPA floor is a calibrated heuristic where CDS not yet on file)

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?

Total enrollment
349
Under 1,000
In-state tuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid — common above ~$110K income — pay this, minus any merit scholarships.
$14,408
sticker, before aid
Out-of-state tuition
$24,134
+$9,726 vs in-state

⚠️ Sticker price isn't every family's price. Lower- and middle-income families often pay materially less after grants; higher-income families frequently pay close to sticker unless the college offers merit scholarships. Check the school's own net-price calculator for your number.

Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
92.5%
Accepts the majority
SAT middle 50%The middle half of enrolled students scored in this range — a quarter scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
1060–1250
EBRW + Math composite
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023
10-yr earningsMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$63,435
median, after entry

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).

Earnings, 6 yrs after entry
$55,620
Earnings, 10 yrs after entryMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$63,435
4-year completionThe share of students who finish a bachelor's in four years. Nationally barely half do — and a fifth year quietly adds a full extra year of cost to the real price.
34%
Median debt (completers)The federal-loan balance of the typical graduating borrower. Families who pay cash aren't counted, so read it as "among those who borrowed."
$25,000

📚 What students study here

Most popular majors at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Family & Consumer Sciences
10 degrees · 29.4%
Nutrition, dietetics, child & family services, hospitality.
2. Business, Management, & Marketing
10 degrees · 29.4%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
3. Engineering
7 degrees · 20.6%
Engineering majors land high-paying technical roles. Top-earning sub-disciplines: petroleum, chemical, computer engineering.
4. Computer & Information Sciences
4 degrees · 11.8%
High-paying tech roles dominate. Median software roles cluster in the $90k-$130k range.
5. Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, & Firefighting
3 degrees · 8.8%
Public-sector careers in law enforcement, corrections, security. Strong pensions, modest base.

💼 What those majors earn here

Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Information Science/Studies. Bachelor's Degree 1 $66,209 $91,671
Engineering, General. Bachelor's Degree 9 $68,331 $88,063
Business/Commerce, General. Bachelor's Degree 11 $45,110 $65,292
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. Bachelor's Degree 1 $37,834 $58,195
Criminal Justice and Corrections. Bachelor's Degree 10 $37,240 $56,877
Psychology, General. Bachelor's Degree — $32,408 $49,543
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services. Bachelor's Degree 9 $34,030 $45,943

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.

Top-1% access
1.4%
from top-1% households
Mobility rateThe share of ALL students who arrived from the bottom 20% of family incomes AND reached the top 20% themselves by their early 30s — access and lift in one number, and a sign the campus itself adds earnings power.
1.8%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
30.2%
of lower-income students who reach the top 20%
Pell recipientsStudents receiving federal Pell grants, which go to lower- and middle-income families — the standard shorthand for a college's economic mix.
29%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

Alternatives to Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

🏆 Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
39 stats-based merit scholarships
Texas Tech University
TX · Public
30 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
The University of Alabama
AL · Public
21 stats-based + 2 competitive scholarships
💰 Lower full price
Similar selectivity, but a meaningfully lower full sticker price — the comparison that matters most for families who won't qualify for much need-based aid.
United States Merchant Marine Academy
NY · Public
$9,168/yr full price (in-state) · $19,362 less before aid
Indiana University-Kokomo
IN · Public
$11,837/yr full price (in-state) · $16,693 less before aid
CUNY Hunter College
NY · Public
$13,905/yr full price (in-state) · $14,625 less before aid
🚀 Stronger campus value-add
Per Opportunity Insights, these campuses add more earnings power to the students they enroll than Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois does — a quality signal, not a cost play.
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
NY · Public
12.9% mobility rate (vs 1.8% here)
CUNY City College
NY · Public
11.7% mobility rate (vs 1.8% here)
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
10.2% mobility rate (vs 1.8% here)

⚖️ Or compare any college side-by-side

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