Catawba College

Overview

Rankings

• #6 Best Education Colleges in North Carolina
• #6 Best Psychology Colleges in North Carolina
• #12 Best Business Colleges in North Carolina
• #14 Best Biology Colleges in North Carolina
• #16 Best Online Colleges in North Carolina
• #16 Best Communications Colleges in North Carolina
• #18 Best Colleges in North Carolina
• #20 Best Bachelor's Programs in North Carolina

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Catawba College? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

As a private institution in Salisbury, North Carolina, Catawba College admits most of the students who apply; the acceptance rate is roughly 75%. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,096. The graduation rate is roughly 50%.

Acceptance Rate

75%

Retention Rate

77%

SAT Average

1096

ACT Midpoint

22

SAT Range

1030–1300

ACT Range

17–25

Full-Time Faculty

81%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$8,682

Student–Faculty Ratio

11:1

Diversity Index

0.65

First-Gen Students

30%

Applicants

3,199

Admitted

2,146

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2025-26

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Catawba College is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 12% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school most admitted students ultimately pass on.

Yield Rate

12%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

17%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

45%

of enrolled freshmen

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Catawba College? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Catawba College is $34,300, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $17,879. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $13,618 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $25,000 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$34,300

Out-of-State

$34,300

Avg Net Price

$17,879

Median Debt

$25,000

Pell Grant Rate

41%

Federal Loan Rate

53%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Catawba College — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is Catawba College Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Catawba College earn a median of $48,793, roughly in line with the national average for college graduates.

6 Years After Entry

$36,912

8 Years

$43,359

10 Years

$48,793

Debt-to-Earnings

0.51x

Earning > $25K

59%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does Catawba College Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Catawba College is a genuine engine of upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 1.25%, well above the typical college. About 5.8% of students come from families in the bottom income quintile. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 21.7% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $94,000, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

1.25%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

21.7%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

5.8%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$127,713

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Catawba College? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Catawba College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.37, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.03), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 7% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.37

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.03

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

7.2%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$2,296,803

Investment Income

$-22,564,225

Top Programs

The fields Catawba College awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Business & Marketing 23% $57,268 early-career
• Education 13% $40,706 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 9% $31,771 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 6% $26,713 early-career
• Health Professions 5%
• Social Sciences 4%
• Communications 4% $40,390 early-career
• Psychology 4%

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.