A parent's read

  • The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 6× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$24,100/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$53,040/yr) still runs about 6× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
  • Worth asking: do students finish? Only 48% 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.

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Odds at Tarleton State University

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Most families report the weighted one — it's the higher number, with honors and AP credit in it.

This reads the numbers — admit rate, scores, GPA. The real decision also weighs essays, recommendations, activities, and course rigor.

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Live odds from each college's own published admissions data.

Parent/student verdict

Accessible

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

Best for

  • In-state residents (tuition ~$8,302 — major value play)
  • Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Agriculture (the two biggest majors)
  • Research-curious students (R2 — active research output)

The reality

  • You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 960, or ACT below 19 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)

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?

Carnegie classification
R2: Doctoral - High Research Activity
Undergraduates
12,673
10,000 - 19,999 including graduate students
In-state tuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid at a given college pay this, minus any merit scholarships — whether you qualify depends on the college's price and policies, not on any fixed income line.
$8,302
sticker, before aid
Out-of-state tuition
$18,142
+$9,840 vs in-state
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.
94.2%
Accepts the majority
SAT middle 50%The middle half of the enrolled first-years who sent this test scored in this range — a quarter of them scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. At a test-optional college the students who submitted are often a minority of the class, so the range describes them rather than everyone who enrolled. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
960–1150
EBRW + Math composite
ACT middle 50%The middle half of the enrolled first-years who sent this test scored in this range — a quarter of them scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. At a test-optional college the students who submitted are often a minority of the class, so the range describes them rather than everyone who enrolled. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
19–24
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.
$53,040
median, after entry

48% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 18% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.

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
$46,729
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.
$53,040
Graduate within 6 yrsThe share of students who start here and finish a bachelor's within six years — the standard federal measure, and the one College Scorecard publishes. It is not a four-year rate. Read it as the odds of finishing at all: nationally about a third of students who start never do, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision.
48%
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."
$19,606

The real cost

What Tarleton State University actually costs

If you qualify for need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats.
$20,783/yr
average among aid-receiving families, all incomes — your number depends on your finances
If you don't
$24,100/yr
the full published price for in-state students — out-of-state runs higher

Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Tarleton State University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.

Get your family's number — Tarleton State University's Net Price Calculator ↗ 10–15 minutes; have a tax return handy. It's still an estimate — but it's this college's own, built from your family's numbers, not anyone's average.
Start your Family Decision Report →

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

+$434K ahead at full price +$447K with aid
Full price, no aidThe all-in yearly price — tuition, housing, food, books, fees — before any aid. This is the real "full price," not just the tuition line. (4 yrs, in-state)
$96,400
~$24,100/yr all-in (out-of-state runs higher)
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$83,132
$20,783/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$530,400
$53,040/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
1.8 yrs
at full price (1.6 with aid), at the median earnings rate

Source: 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, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.

What students study here

Most popular majors at Tarleton State University

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

1. Business, Management, & Marketing
503 degrees · 32.5%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
2. Agriculture
348 degrees · 22.5%
Farm management, food science, ag-business operations. Wide range based on path.
3. Health Professions
253 degrees · 16.3%
Highest-paying group on this list, but most careers require additional training beyond a 4-year degree.
4. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness
240 degrees · 15.5%
Coaching, athletic training, public-sector recreation, fitness industry.
5. Psychology
204 degrees · 13.2%
Most undergrad psych grads go into non-clinical roles. Clinical/counseling psych requires a master's or doctoral.

What those majors earn here

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

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Computer Science. Bachelor's Degree 13 $102,423
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. Bachelor's Degree 168 $74,753 $89,677
Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians. Bachelor's Degree 52 $55,036 $87,678
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions. Bachelor's Degree 33 $69,675 $81,042
Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians. Bachelor's Degree 14 $51,917 $77,044
Computer and Information Sciences, General. Bachelor's Degree 23 $54,157 $76,980
Accounting and Related Services. Bachelor's Degree 84 $48,530 $68,031
Business/Commerce, General. Bachelor's Degree 229 $49,471 $66,572
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 111 $49,353 $63,969
Political Science and Government. Bachelor's Degree 4 $59,542

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. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.

Top-1% access
0.7%
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.
2.1%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
22.5%
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.
34%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

AI program signal

AI + computing education at Tarleton State University

CS degrees (annual)
17
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to Tarleton State University

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.
Texas Tech University
TX · Public
30 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
University of Mississippi
MS · Public
14 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
University of Louisville
KY · Public
13 stats-based + 6 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) · $14,932 less before aid for NY residents
Indiana University-Kokomo
IN · Public
$11,837/yr full price (in-state) · $12,263 less before aid for IN residents
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
GA · Public
$13,956/yr full price (in-state) · $10,144 less before aid for GA residents
More students move up here
Per Opportunity Insights, a larger share of these campuses' lower-income students reach the top earnings quintile than at Tarleton State University. That reflects who they admit as well as what they do, so read it as a destination signal rather than proof of value added.
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
10.2% mobility rate (vs 2.1% here)
CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
NY · Public
9.7% mobility rate (vs 2.1% here)
MCPHS University
MA · Private nonprofit
9.3% mobility rate (vs 2.1% here)

Or compare any college side-by-side

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Feeder high schools

Which high schools send graduates to Tarleton State University?

3 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Tarleton State University on it. Between them they printed 3 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Tarleton State University, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.

High school · years its list covers Enrolled per class year
Fort Worth Country Day School · 2020-23 0.2 · 1 over 4 class years
Greenhill School · 2022 - 2025 0.2 · 1 over 4 class years
St. Stephen's Episcopal School (Austin) · Classes of 2021-2025 0.2 · 1 over 5 class years

All 3 feeder schools, ranked →

Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.

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At a glance

JSON · Using this page with an AI assistant

Tarleton State University is a public four-year college in TX. It admitted 94% of applicants (8,746 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 960–1150, ACT 19–24. 48% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 18% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.

Cost: about $20,783 a year on average with aid, $24,100 a year at full price for in-state students.

Median earnings ten years after entry: $53,040 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $447,268 ahead with aid, $434,000 ahead at full price.

Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($102,423); Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($89,677); Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians ($87,678).

Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 9% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 22% of those reached the top fifth as adults.

High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Tarleton State University: 3, 3 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Fort Worth Country Day School (0.2 per class year, 1 over 4 class years, 2020-23); Greenhill School (0.2 per class year, 1 over 4 class years, 2022 - 2025); St. Stephen's Episcopal School (Austin) (0.2 per class year, 1 over 5 class years, Classes of 2021-2025). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/tarleton-state-university.

Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/tarleton-state-university.json

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