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🎓 College profile

Temple University

PA · Public · Large city · 36,399 applicants 2023

R1 Research
83% admit rate $34,947/yr at $110k+ income

🧭 A parent's read

  • The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods grads from here earn about $104,311 four years out; drama grads about $36,994 — a 2.8× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
  • The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$40,903/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$63,727/yr) still runs about 4× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
  • 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.

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

🎯 Parent/student verdict

Likely

Accessible for most applicants.

✅ Best for

  • Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Health Professions (the two biggest majors)
  • Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)

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?

Carnegie classification
R1: Doctoral - Very High Research Activity
Total enrollment
20,970
20,000 and above
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.
$23,011
sticker, before aid
Out-of-state tuition
$38,958
+$15,947 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.
82.9%
Accepts the majority
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.
$63,727
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.

🎓 High-school GPA

3.42 avg unweightedGPA on the plain 4.0 scale, no honors/AP bonus. When a college publishes an "average admitted GPA of 3.9," it's often this scale — don't compare it to a weighted 4.3. GPA, enrolled first-years

unweighted 4.0 scale. Common Data Set 2024-2025 ↗

As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2024-25) — independently verified 2026-07-23 (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.

📊 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
$50,860
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.
$63,727
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.
75%
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."
$24,395

💰 The real cost

What families at your income actually pay

Above $110K income — where most Reach families sit — aid-receiving families average $34,947/yr at Temple University; families who don't qualify for aid pay the full ~$40,903/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 Temple University's own Net Price Calculator ↗ (10–15 min; have your tax return handy).

Family income $110k+ most Reach families
$34,947/yr
Family income $75-110k
$29,397/yr
Family income $48-75k
$26,534/yr
Family income $30-48k
$23,431/yr
Family income $0-30k
$22,694/yr

📈 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

3.9× at full price 5.6× 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)
$163,612
~$40,903/yr all-in (out-of-state runs higher)
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$112,792
$28,198/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$637,270
$63,727/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
2.6 yrs
at full price (1.8 with aid), at the median earnings rate

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

📚 What students study here

Most popular majors at Temple University

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

1. Business, Management, & Marketing
1,197 degrees · 37.1%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
2. Health Professions
628 degrees · 19.4%
Highest-paying group on this list, but most careers require additional training beyond a 4-year degree.
3. Communication, Journalism, & Related
584 degrees · 18.1%
Media, PR, marketing communications. Salary spread is wide.
4. Visual & Performing Arts
432 degrees · 13.4%
Highly variable. Steady-pay roles cluster in design, illustration, production. Performance careers have very wide income distributions.
5. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
388 degrees · 12.0%
Many bio majors → med school / grad school. Direct-employment bio roles are lower-paid than that pipeline.

💼 What those majors earn here

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

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. Bachelor's Degree 49 $74,778 $104,311
Computer and Information Sciences, General. Bachelor's Degree 319 $73,393 $101,670
Biomedical/Medical Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 60 $54,415 $101,101
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 58 $75,148 $97,839
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. Bachelor's Degree 97 $82,319 $96,342
Insurance. Bachelor's Degree 150 $66,080 $92,555
Mathematics. Bachelor's Degree 11 $59,167 $91,330
Mechanical Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 87 $66,161 $91,131
Construction Engineering Technology/Technician. Bachelor's Degree 17 $72,240 $89,674
Accounting and Related Services. Bachelor's Degree 151 $63,202 $85,777

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
0.8%
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.
3.3%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
35.6%
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.
32%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

🤖 AI program signal

AI + computing education at Temple University

CS degrees (annual)
175
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to Temple 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.
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
39 stats-based merit scholarships
The University of Alabama
AL · Public
21 stats-based + 2 competitive scholarships
Mississippi State University
MS · Public
18 stats-based + 1 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.
Indiana University-Kokomo
IN · Public
$11,837/yr full price (in-state) · $29,066 less before aid
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
GA · Public
$13,956/yr full price (in-state) · $26,947 less before aid
Indiana University-Northwest
IN · Public
$13,989/yr full price (in-state) · $26,914 less before aid
🛡️ Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
Pennsylvania Western University
PA · Public
94% admit rate (vs 83% here)
Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania
PA · Public
95% admit rate (vs 83% here)
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
PA · Public
95% admit rate (vs 83% here)
🚀 Stronger campus value-add
Per Opportunity Insights, these campuses add more earnings power to the students they enroll than Temple University does — a quality signal, not a cost play.
California State University-Los Angeles
CA · Public
9.9% mobility rate (vs 3.3% here)
Pace University
NY · Private nonprofit
8.4% mobility rate (vs 3.3% here)
CUNY New York City College of Technology
NY · Public
8.3% mobility rate (vs 3.3% here)

⚖️ Or compare any college side-by-side

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