A parent's read

  • The 4× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$49,094/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 ~$26,569/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~4× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
  • Worth asking: do students finish? Only 47% 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 William Woods 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.

Best for

  • Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Foreign Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics (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?

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
1,300
1,000 - 4,999 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.
$30,340
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.
74.5%
Accessible
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.
$42,401
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
$39,265
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.
$42,401
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.
47%
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."
$21,983

The real cost

What William Woods 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.
$26,569/yr
average among aid-receiving families, all incomes — your number depends on your finances
If you don't
$49,094/yr
the full published price

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

Get your family's number — William Woods 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

+$228K ahead at full price +$318K 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)
$196,376
~$49,094/yr all-in
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$106,276
$26,569/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$424,010
$42,401/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
4.6 yrs
at full price (2.5 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 William Woods University

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

1. Business, Management, & Marketing
36 degrees · 30.8%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
2. Foreign Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics
31 degrees · 26.5%
Translation, international business, education, intelligence work.
3. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness
19 degrees · 16.2%
Coaching, athletic training, public-sector recreation, fitness industry.
4. Agriculture
17 degrees · 14.5%
Farm management, food science, ag-business operations. Wide range based on path.
5. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
14 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 — William Woods University's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Biology, General. Bachelor's Degree 13 $56,378
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 43 $40,010 $54,853
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness. Bachelor's Degree 24 $24,329 $51,841
American Sign Language. Bachelor's Degree 70 $36,948 $49,889
Agricultural and Domestic Animal Services. Bachelor's Degree 13 $30,545 $33,757

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
1.1%
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.
0.3%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
6.1%
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.
35%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

Alternatives to William Woods 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
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.
Indiana University-Kokomo
IN · Public
$11,837/yr full price (in-state) · $37,257 less before aid for IN residents
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
GA · Public
$13,956/yr full price (in-state) · $35,138 less before aid for GA residents
Indiana University-Northwest
IN · Public
$13,989/yr full price (in-state) · $35,105 less before aid for IN residents
Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
Northwest Missouri State University
MO · Public
86% admit rate (vs 74% here)
Missouri State University-Springfield
MO · Public
91% admit rate (vs 74% here)
Missouri Southern State University
MO · Public
97% admit rate (vs 74% 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 William Woods 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.
MCPHS University
MA · Private nonprofit
9.3% mobility rate (vs 0.3% here)
Pace University
NY · Private nonprofit
8.4% mobility rate (vs 0.3% here)
CUNY New York City College of Technology
NY · Public
8.3% mobility rate (vs 0.3% here)

Or compare any college side-by-side

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At a glance

JSON · Using this page with an AI assistant

William Woods University is a private nonprofit four-year college in MO. It admitted 74% of applicants (1,133 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Cost: about $26,569 a year on average with aid, $49,094 a year at full price.

Median earnings ten years after entry: $42,401 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $317,734 ahead with aid, $227,634 ahead at full price.

Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Biology, General ($56,378); Business Administration, Management and Operations ($54,853); Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness ($51,841).

Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 5% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 6% of those reached the top fifth as adults.

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

By major: BiologyBusiness AdministrationKinesiology
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