Reed College
Portland, Oregon · Private Nonprofit · 24.6% acceptance rate
ROI Score: 60/100 · Fair Value
Data: 2024-25 College Scorecard release
Reed College, the famously rigorous Portland liberal arts college, scores 60 on the CampusROI framework and lands in Fair Value tier. Reed's situation is a textbook case of how the federal earnings premium framework underweights graduate-school feeder institutions. Tuition is $69,350, net price $33,013, total 4-year cost $132,052. Median 6-year earnings are $34,800 (low), but 10-year earnings reach $62,927, reflecting the very high graduate-school continuation rate that suppresses early-career wages and lifts them later. The standout subscores are completion rate (71.5%) and three-year repayment rate (87.4%), the latter one of the strongest in the dataset. Payback is 9.7 years, debt-to-earnings is 0.618, median debt is $21,500. Reed produces a disproportionate share of PhDs per capita (especially in chemistry, physics, English, and history), and the Scorecard's 4-year-post-degree earnings window catches most graduates mid-graduate-program rather than mid-career. The federal data systematically understates Reed's long-run earnings outcomes; the 91 repayment subscore is the cleaner read on graduate financial health.
Reed College
Quick Numbers
| In-state tuition + fees | $69,350/yr |
| Out-of-state tuition + fees | $69,350/yr |
| Average net price | $33,013/yr |
| Total 4-year cost (net) | $132,052 |
| Median earnings (10yr post-entry) | $62,927 |
| Median earnings (6yr post-entry) | $34,800 |
| Median debt at graduation | $21,500 |
| Estimated monthly loan payment | $228 |
| Estimated payback period | 9.7 years |
| 6-year graduation rate | 71.5% |
| Undergraduate enrollment | 1,320 |
Data as of 2024-2025. Source: College Scorecard API (U.S. Department of Education).
The Full Financial Picture
The first number you'll see is the sticker price: $69,350/year. Here's the part that matters - almost nobody pays that. After grants, scholarships, and aid, the average student here pays a net price of $33,013/year, or roughly $132,052 over four years. That's the number to plan around.
What you actually pay depends a lot on what your family earns. Families making under $30,000/year pay an average of $12,674/year here, while families earning over $110,000 pay $46,711/year.
Most students borrow to get here. The median graduate leaves owing $21,500 in federal loans, which works out to about $228 a month on the standard 10-year repayment plan. Hold that up against the $62,927 the typical graduate earns ten years out: the debt-to-earnings ratio comes to 0.62, within the range advisors call workable but worth keeping an eye on.
Net Price by Family Income
What families actually pay after grants and scholarships, by income bracket.
| Family Income | Avg Net Price/Year |
|---|---|
| $0 - $30,000 | $12,674 |
| $30,001 - $48,000 | $12,514 |
| $48,001 - $75,000 | $14,513 |
| $75,001 - $110,000 | $23,421 |
| $110,001+ | $46,711 |
Cost by Income Bracket Explained
Lower-income families (under $30K)
Families under $30,000 pay $12,674 net, while the $30,001-$48,000 bracket actually pays slightly less at $12,514, a small inverted-bracket flag likely reflecting how scholarship stacking works for academically strong but lower-need students. For Pell-eligible students who fit Reed academically, this is genuinely accessible pricing for a top-tier private liberal arts education.
Middle-income families ($30K-$110K)
The $48,001-$75,000 bracket pays $14,513 and the $75,001-$110,000 bracket jumps to $23,421. The middle-income aid curve is well-shaped at the lower end but climbs steeply through the upper middle bracket. Families in the $75-$110K range face the steepest aid drop.
Higher-income families ($110K+)
Families above $110,000 pay $46,711 net, $22,639 below the $69,350 sticker but the steepest income cliff in our dataset. Reed's pricing structure relies on high-income families paying near-sticker. For the wealthiest families, Reed's value case is the intellectual environment plus the graduate-school feeder pipeline; for families just over the $110K line, the cliff is sharp and the math should be compared carefully to alternatives.
Earnings by Major
Top 6 most popular majors at Reed College with available earnings data.
| Major | Median Earnings | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Biology | $25,596 | - |
| Linguistic and Comparative Language Studies | $25,561 | D |
| English Language and Literature | $15,790 | F |
| Economics | $92,453 | B |
| Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other | $30,834 | C |
| Psychology | $36,430 | D |
Earnings reflect median 4-year post-completion (or 1-year where 4-year unavailable). Grades based on debt-to-earnings ratio.
Program Analysis
Why these programs deliver their earnings outcomes.
Economics
Economics graduates 16 students with $53,110 in 1-year earnings and $92,453 at year four. The 0.43 debt-to-earnings ratio earns a B grade against $22,842 of debt. Economics is Reed's strongest non-graduate-feeder major by ROI, with graduates entering finance, consulting, and data-analytics roles where the analytical rigor of the Reed curriculum translates to early-career earnings. Debt is comfortably serviced.
English Language and Literature
English graduates 18 students with $15,790 in 1-year earnings. The 1.235 debt-to-earnings ratio earns an F grade against $19,500 of debt; 4-year earnings are not reported. The year-one figure is dramatic and reflects the typical English-major path post-Reed: graduate school (PhD, MFA), publishing, or early-career editorial roles with subsistence wages. The 4-year window missing is consistent with most of the cohort still being in graduate programs.
Biology
Biology graduates 20 students with $25,596 in 1-year earnings; 4-year earnings and debt data are suppressed. Reed is one of the country's strongest undergraduate feeders to biology PhD and medical-school programs, and the year-one earnings figure reflects research-tech and pre-medical preparation wages. The eventual PhD-track and physician earnings of this cohort would dwarf the Scorecard's measurement window.
Linguistic and Comparative Language Studies
Linguistics graduates 19 students with $25,561 in 1-year earnings and a 0.831 debt-to-earnings ratio earning a D grade against $21,250 of debt. Like other Reed humanities, the year-one figure reflects graduate-school holdouts and entry-level academic-adjacent roles. The major's long-run trajectory is reasonable for students who continue to PhD or specialized industry work; the undergraduate-window data is unflattering.
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other
Interdisciplinary Studies graduates 16 students with $30,834 in 1-year earnings and a 0.624 debt-to-earnings ratio earning a C grade against $19,250 of debt. The major captures Reed students who custom-built across departments, often for graduate-school preparation. Debt is moderate and the year-one earnings are mid-pack for Reed, consistent with a flexible academic profile feeding into varied early-career paths.
How Graduates Do
Earnings
Loan Repayment
| Metric | This School | Nat'l Avg |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year repayment | 85.0% | 52.0% |
| 3-year repayment | 87.4% | 62.0% |
| 5-year repayment | 88.5% | 68.0% |
| 7-year repayment | 90.4% | 72.0% |
Completion Rate
Trends Over Time
How Reed College’s cost and outcomes have moved across College Scorecard releases (2009-2024).
Average Net Price
Completion Rate
Median Earnings, 10 Years After Entry (as reported)
Earnings reflect borrowers measured 10 years after entry and publish on an irregular cadence with a multi-year reporting lag, so this series shows only the years the Department of Education reported - the data is never interpolated.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, release years shown. Net price and completion are reported annually.
Admissions Snapshot
| Acceptance rate | 24.6% |
| SAT Math (25th-75th) | 610-770 |
| SAT Reading (25th-75th) | 680-750 |
| ACT Composite (25th-75th) | 30-34 |
| Enrollment | 1,320 |
| Pell Grant recipients | 14.6% |
| Avg faculty salary (monthly) | $12,578 |
Reed admits 24.6% of applicants, making it the most selective school in our dataset by a wide margin. SAT mid-ranges are 610-770 in math and 680-750 in reading; ACT composites are 30-34. The combination of high admit selectivity and a 71.5% completion rate confirms Reed is admitting and matching well-prepared students who fit the institution's distinctive academic culture (thesis-driven undergraduate research, narrative evaluations alongside letter grades, intense intellectual focus). Prepared students who fit the culture finish.
Compared to Similar Schools
Peer institutions matched by type, size, and selectivity.
Reed's Scorecard peer set is poorly matched. George Fox and Walla Walla are Oregon and Washington Christian privates with no useful comparison to Reed's secular intellectual culture. New Hope Christian College, AdventHealth, and Southern Nazarene are similarly mismatched. The relevant peer set for Reed is selective liberal arts colleges (Swarthmore, Carleton, Grinnell, Bowdoin) that the dataset's peer-finder did not surface. Among that true peer set, Reed scores lower on earnings premium because of the graduate-school feeder effect; among the federal-peer set listed, Reed is the highest-scoring institution by a wide margin.
| School | ROI | Net Price | 10yr Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reed College (this school) | 60 | $33,013 | $62,927 |
| AdventHealth University | 63 | $30,135 | $72,282 |
| Walla Walla University | 62 | $23,329 | $61,885 |
| George Fox University | 57 | $31,679 | $59,761 |
| Southern Nazarene University | 55 | $22,084 | $54,951 |
| New Hope Christian College-Eugene | 22 | $21,600 | $31,115 |
Who Thrives Here
Reed fits academically prepared students with intellectual ambitions, often planning graduate work in academic disciplines, science PhD programs, or law school. With 1,320 students and a 14.6% Pell rate, the campus skews academic and middle-to-upper-income. Strong fits are students who thrive in seminar-driven, thesis-focused undergraduate environments and who can absorb the cost via Reed's strong need-based aid. Weaker fits are students seeking pre-professional credentialing or terminal undergraduate career launches; Reed's data on year-one earnings will look bad to such students.
The Verdict: A Reasonable Bet - With Caveats
Reed College is a fair-value bet, but how well it pays off depends a lot on you. At $33,013 a year after aid ($132,052 over four years), with the typical graduate earning $62,927 a decade out, the cost takes about 9.7 years to earn back. That's roughly average - not a bargain, not a mistake.
What it has going for it: its 71.5% graduation rate, high loan repayment success.
Median debt of $21,500 against $62,927 in earnings is reasonable, though your major matters a lot here. Graduates in higher-earning fields will see the better end of this.
Reed College: Common Questions
Is Reed College worth it?
In our view, it's a fair-value bet - whether Reed College is worth it depends a lot on your major and aid package. It scores 60/100 on our ROI scale. At $33,013 a year after aid ($132,052 over four years) against $62,927 in typical earnings a decade out, the cost takes about 9.7 years to earn back - roughly average.
How much does Reed College cost after financial aid?
The average net price - what students actually pay after grants and scholarships - is about $33,013 a year, or roughly $132,052 over four years. That is the number to plan around, not the sticker price. Actual cost varies by family income, per the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.
What do Reed College graduates earn?
The typical graduate earns about $62,927 ten years after enrolling, roughly $21,127 a year more than the median high-school graduate ($41,800, per NCES, 2022). That earnings gap is what has to cover the cost of the degree.
How long does it take to pay off Reed College?
We estimate the payback period - the time it takes for the earnings bump over a high-school graduate to cover what you spent - at about 9.7 years for Reed College. Most four-year schools we track land between 4 and 10 years.
How much debt do Reed College graduates take on?
Median debt at graduation is about $21,500, against $62,927 in typical earnings a decade out. That is reasonable, though your major matters: higher-earning fields will see the better end of it.
What is the graduation rate at Reed College?
The six-year graduation rate is 71.5%, at or above the 64% national average for four-year schools (NCES, 2022). Completion is 15% of our ROI score, since a degree you don't finish rarely pays back.
NewsletterCollege decisions are better with data.
From CampusROI, when there is something worth acting on.
Rankings & Links
Guides & Tools
Data: College Scorecard API (U.S. Department of Education)
Vintage: 2024-2025 · Last updated: 2026-03-25
Earnings reflect median outcomes for all federal financial aid recipients. Individual results vary by major, effort, and career path.