College profile
Towson University
MD · Public · Small city · 18,948 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $104,653 four years out; music grads about $36,285 — a 2.9× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 6× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$28,535/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$64,390/yr) still runs about 6× 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.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Affordable — net price averages ~$17,413/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
- In-state residents (tuition ~$11,728 — major value play)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1050, or ACT below 19, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- Out-of-state tuition is 2.5× the in-state rate
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?
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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?
15% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 2% 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).
The real cost
What Towson University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Towson 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
+$530K ahead at full price +$574K 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, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Towson University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Towson University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Towson University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $104,653 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $91,252 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | $91,044 |
| Physics. | $90,457 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $78,497 |
| Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions. | $77,953 |
| Economics. | $76,509 |
| Chemistry. | $76,296 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $75,785 |
| Mathematics. | $72,409 |
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 Towson University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Towson University
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Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Towson University?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
18 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Towson University on it. Between them they printed 31 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Towson 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.
and 8 more
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
4 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Towson University on it. Between them they printed 34 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Towson University, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 22 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 assistantTowson University is a public four-year college in MD. It admitted 83% of applicants (18,948 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1050–1270, ACT 19–28. 15% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 2% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $17,413 a year on average with aid, $28,535 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $64,390 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $574,248 ahead with aid, $529,760 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($104,653); Accounting and Related Services ($91,252); Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($91,044).
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Towson University: 18, 31 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Friends School of Baltimore (2.0 per class year, 2 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); Gilman School (1.0 per class year, 5 over 5 class years, classes of 2020-2024); McDonogh School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). 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/towson-university.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Towson University: 4, 34 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Key School (3.8 per class year, 23 over 6 class years, 2021 - 2026, counted column "Acceptances 2021–2026"); St Anselm'S Abbey School (1.6 per class year, 8 over 5 class years, 2022-2026); National Cathedral School (0.7 per class year, 2 over 3 class years, 2023-2025). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/towson-university.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/towson-university.json