Colorado College

Overview

Rankings

• #1 Best Psychology Colleges in Colorado
• #1 Best Biology Colleges in Colorado
• #2 Colleges With the Best Loan Repayment Rates
• #2 Best Colleges in Colorado
• #2 Best Bachelor's Programs in Colorado
• #2 Best Master's Programs in Colorado
• #2 Best Computer Science Colleges in Colorado
• #2 Best Data Science Colleges in Colorado

Academics & Admissions

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

Colorado College, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, sets a competitive bar: about 18% of applicants get an offer. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,365. The graduation rate is roughly 87%.

Acceptance Rate

18%

Retention Rate

94%

SAT Average

1365

SAT Range

1230–1460

ACT Range

29–33

Full-Time Faculty

80%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$12,786

Student–Faculty Ratio

10:1

Diversity Index

0.52

First-Gen Students

18%

Applicants

7,846

Admitted

1,279

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2024-25

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Colorado 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. 30% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school many admits weigh against other offers.

Yield Rate

30%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

29%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

16%

of enrolled freshmen

Early Decision Admit Rate

31.8%

vs 18.5% overall

Cost & Financial Aid

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

Published tuition at Colorado College is $70,734, 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 $33,375. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $9,217 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $18,257 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$70,734

Out-of-State

$70,734

Avg Net Price

$33,375

Median Debt

$18,257

Pell Grant Rate

14%

Federal Loan Rate

26%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Colorado 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 Colorado College Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Colorado College earn a median of $65,222, roughly in line with the national average for college graduates.

6 Years After Entry

$47,611

8 Years

$52,826

10 Years

$65,222

Debt-to-Earnings

0.28x

Earning > $25K

59%

Social Mobility

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

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

Colorado College is a measurable contributor to upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 1.12%, in line with strong performers nationally. Access is narrower: only about 3.2% of students come from the bottom income quintile, typical of more selective, higher-income institutions. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 35.4% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $115,400, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

1.12%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

35.4%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

3.2%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$156,788

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Colorado 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 Colorado College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.88, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.01), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 17% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.88

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.01

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

16.6%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

Patents, inventors, and research influence · Opportunity Insights & Times Higher Education

Colorado College produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 212 patents tied to its graduates, and ranks among research universities with a 32/100 research score.

Inventor Rate

0.56%

Top 42% nationally

Patents Produced

212

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

1,749

Downstream influence

Research Score

32/100

Times Higher Ed

Academic Influence

51/100

Citation impact (THE)

Inventors From Low-Income

0.31%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$4,749,519

Investment Income

$-65,568,497

Top Programs

The fields Colorado 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.

• Social Sciences 19% $54,760 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 17% $23,930 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 9%
• Business & Marketing 8%
• Psychology 6%
• Computer Science & IT 6%
• Physical Sciences 5% $25,556 early-career
• English & Literature 5% $24,337 early-career

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.