A parent's read

  • The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods grads from here earn about $108,187 four years out; religion grads about $35,960 — a 3.0× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
  • The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 2% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 45% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
  • The 6× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$66,116/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$29,155/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~6× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
  • 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 University of St Thomas Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Match / Likely + your real net price. University of St Thomas starts already on the list. Start →

Parent/student verdict

Accessible

Accessible for most applicants.

Best for

  • Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
  • Students focused on Business, Management, & Marketing (the school's signature program)

The reality

  • You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1223, or ACT below 25, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (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
Doctoral/Professional Universities
Undergraduates
6,245
5,000 - 9,999 including graduate students
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.
$54,398
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split) · 2023–24 federal figure
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.
84.9%
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.
1223–1416
EBRW + Math composite
ACT 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.
25–30
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.
$73,739
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
$62,412
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.
$73,739
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.
76%
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."
$23,250

The real cost

What University of St Thomas 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.
$29,155/yr
average among aid-receiving families, all incomes — your number depends on your finances
If you don't
$66,116/yr
the full published price

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

Get your family's number — University of St Thomas'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

+$473K ahead at full price +$621K 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)
$264,464
~$66,116/yr all-in
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$116,620
$29,155/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$737,390
$73,739/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
3.6 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; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.

What students study here

Most popular majors at University of St Thomas

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

1. Business, Management, & Marketing
586 degrees · 59.0%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
2. Engineering
125 degrees · 12.6%
Engineering majors land high-paying technical roles. Top-earning sub-disciplines: petroleum, chemical, computer engineering.
3. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
120 degrees · 12.1%
Many bio majors → med school / grad school. Direct-employment bio roles are lower-paid than that pipeline.
4. Social Sciences
106 degrees · 10.7%
Economics + poli sci sub-disciplines pay much more than sociology + anthropology.
5. Psychology
56 degrees · 5.6%
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 — University of St Thomas's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. Bachelor's Degree 38 $78,978 $108,187
Computer Science. Bachelor's Degree 53 $73,301 $107,938
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 22 $67,043 $93,981
Finance and Financial Management Services. Bachelor's Degree 175 $66,006 $93,720
Mechanical Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 80 $68,440 $91,683
Accounting and Related Services. Bachelor's Degree 70 $65,573 $91,587
Economics. Bachelor's Degree 62 $60,323 $89,881
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 181 $56,401 $82,396
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations. Bachelor's Degree 58 $48,600 $79,390
Human Resources Management and Services. Bachelor's Degree 20 $52,667 $78,381

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
6.6%
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
45.3%
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.
22%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

AI program signal

AI + computing education at University of St Thomas

CS degrees (annual)
37
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to University of St Thomas

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) · $56,948 less before aid for NY residents
CUNY Hunter College
NY · Public
$13,905/yr full price (in-state) · $52,211 less before aid for NY residents
CUNY Brooklyn College
NY · Public
$14,151/yr full price (in-state) · $51,965 less before aid for NY 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 University of St Thomas. 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 John Jay College of Criminal Justice
NY · Public
9.7% 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 St Thomas is a private nonprofit four-year college in MN. It admitted 85% of applicants (8,813 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Middle 50% of admitted students: SAT 1223–1416, ACT 25–30.

Cost: about $29,155 a year on average with aid, $66,116 a year at full price.

Median earnings ten years after entry: $73,739 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $620,770 ahead with aid, $472,926 ahead at full price.

Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods ($108,187); Computer Science ($107,938); Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering ($93,981).

Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 2% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 45% of those reached the top fifth as adults.

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

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