A parent's read

  • The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$27,398/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$42,957/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.

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Odds at University of Montevallo

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

Parent/student verdict

Moderately selective

Solid match for academically prepared students. Affordable — net price averages ~$17,683/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.

Best for

  • In-state residents (tuition ~$13,948 — major value play)
  • Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Visual & Performing Arts (the two biggest majors)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

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?

Carnegie classification
M2: Master's - Medium Programs
Undergraduates
2,151
1,000 - 4,999 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.
$13,948
sticker, before aid
Out-of-state tuition
$26,968
+$13,020 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.
53.9%
Moderately selective
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.
$42,957
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
$35,406
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.
$42,957
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.
54%
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."
$24,000

The real cost

What University of Montevallo 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.
$17,683/yr
average among aid-receiving families, all incomes — your number depends on your finances
If you don't
$27,398/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 University of Montevallo's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.

Get your family's number — University of Montevallo'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

+$320K ahead at full price +$359K 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)
$109,592
~$27,398/yr all-in (out-of-state runs higher)
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$70,732
$17,683/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$429,570
$42,957/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
2.6 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 University of Montevallo

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

1. Business, Management, & Marketing
95 degrees · 35.3%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
2. Visual & Performing Arts
70 degrees · 26.0%
Highly variable. Steady-pay roles cluster in design, illustration, production. Performance careers have very wide income distributions.
3. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness
38 degrees · 14.1%
Coaching, athletic training, public-sector recreation, fitness industry.
4. Education
34 degrees · 12.6%
Teaching is the largest path. Salary depends heavily on district + state.
5. English Language & Literature
32 degrees · 11.9%
Writing-heavy roles. Variance is huge — corporate technical writers pay 2× journalists.

What those majors earn here

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

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Accounting and Related Services. Bachelor's Degree 9 $57,747
Marketing. Bachelor's Degree 21 $53,492
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication. Bachelor's Degree 16 $50,497
Communication Disorders Sciences and Services. Bachelor's Degree 26 $49,979
Finance and Financial Management Services. Bachelor's Degree 11 $48,160
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods. Bachelor's Degree 45 $41,692 $47,823
Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies. Bachelor's Degree 13 $46,767
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. Bachelor's Degree 21 $44,624
History. Bachelor's Degree 10 $32,263 $44,563
Social Work. Bachelor's Degree 17 $32,262 $43,388

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
1.2%
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.
1.0%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
14.2%
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.
32%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

AI program signal

AI + computing education at University of Montevallo

CS degrees (annual)
1
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to University of Montevallo

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 South Carolina-Columbia
SC · Public
8 stats-based + 3 competitive scholarships
Auburn University
AL · Public
3 stats-based merit scholarships
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville
TN · Public
2 stats-based merit 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.
CUNY Hunter College
NY · Public
$13,905/yr full price (in-state) · $13,493 less before aid for NY residents
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
$14,121/yr full price (in-state) · $13,277 less before aid for NY residents
CUNY Brooklyn College
NY · Public
$14,151/yr full price (in-state) · $13,247 less before aid for NY residents
Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
University of South Alabama
AL · Public
66% admit rate (vs 54% here)
Alabama A & M University
AL · Public
66% admit rate (vs 54% here)
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
74% admit rate (vs 54% here)
More students move up here
Per Opportunity Insights, a larger share of these campuses' lower-income students reach the top earnings quintile than at University of Montevallo. 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 Bernard M Baruch College
NY · Public
12.9% mobility rate (vs 1.0% here)
CUNY City College
NY · Public
11.7% mobility rate (vs 1.0% here)
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
10.2% mobility rate (vs 1.0% here)

Or compare any college side-by-side

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At a glance

JSON · Using this page with an AI assistant

University of Montevallo is a public four-year college in AL. It admitted 54% of applicants (6,210 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Cost: about $17,683 a year on average with aid, $27,398 a year at full price for in-state students.

Median earnings ten years after entry: $42,957 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $358,838 ahead with aid, $319,978 ahead at full price.

Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Accounting and Related Services ($57,747); Marketing ($53,492); Radio, Television, and Digital Communication ($50,497).

Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 7% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 14% of those reached the top fifth as adults.

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

By major: AccountingArt (Studio)EnglishFilm and TelevisionFinanceHistoryKinesiologyLiberal Studies (teacher preparation)MarketingPsychologySocial WorkTheatre
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