Purdue University-Main Campus
West Lafayette, Indiana
- Public
- City
- 44,503 undergrads
- Admit rate
- 50%Source: College Scorecard
- Average net price
- $14,851per year, after grantsSource: College Scorecard
- Graduation rate
- 84%within 6 yearsSource: College Scorecard
- Median earnings
- $80,08210 years after startingSource: College Scorecard
What's special
Base tuition has been frozen for 14 years in a row, through 2026–27, and Indiana residents pay under $10,000 a year in base tuition and fees.
Source: Purdue newsroom, 2026
Purdue expects applicants to send SAT, ACT or CLT scores, a policy it brought back for students entering in fall 2024. Applying without one is allowed only in exceptional cases: in 2026, 98.3% of admitted students had a test score.
Source: Purdue Admissions application guide; Higher Ed Dive, Dec 2022
Purdue admits applicants directly to individual majors rather than to the general university.
Getting in
- Admit rate
- 50%About 5 in 10 applicants get in.Source: College Scorecard
- Test policy
- Test scores requiredApplicants must send SAT or ACT scores.Source: College Scorecard
- SAT (middle 50%)
- 1200–1480Reading + math, enrolled first-years who sent scoresSource: College Scorecard
- ACT (middle 50%)
- 27–34Composite, enrolled first-years who sent scoresSource: College Scorecard
From Purdue University-Main Campus's own report
These numbers come from the school's Common Data Set for 2025–26, a standard report colleges publish about their applicants and first-year students. Open the report.
Average high school GPA: 3.81 (the 93% of first-years who reported one)
- Admit rate in this report
- 43%37,881 admitted of 87,220 first-year applicants
- Off the wait list
- 97%3,916 admitted of 4,047 who stayed on the wait list (8,981 were offered a spot)
- SAT, middle 50%
- 1220–1470First-years who sent scores
- ACT, middle 50%
- 28–34First-years who sent scores
What the admissions office says it weighs
Very important
- How challenging your classes were
- GPA
- Essay
Important
- Test scores
- Recommendations
- Activities
- Character and personal qualities
- Being first in your family to go to college
Considered
- Class rank
- Where you live
- Living in the state
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Showing interest in the school
Not considered
- Interview
- Family who went there (legacy)
- Religious affiliation
Where you'd stand
Enter your numbers to see where they'd fall among Purdue University-Main Campus's first-year students. This isn't a prediction: it shows how you compare with students who enrolled, using the sources linked below.
Leave out anything you don't have. Your numbers stay in this browser and fill in on other school pages. See my list
Sources: Purdue University-Main Campus Common Data Set 2025–26. Test ranges describe enrolled students who sent scores.
What it really costs
Most families pay less than the sticker price. Net price is what's left after grants and scholarships.
- Average net price
- $14,851full-time first-years who got grant aidSource: College Scorecard
- Total cost of attendance
- $25,610sticker price incl. housing, per yearSource: College Scorecard
- Tuition, in-state
- $9,992Source: College Scorecard
- Tuition, out-of-state
- $28,794Source: College Scorecard
After you enroll
- Graduation rate
- 84%first-time, full-time students finishing within 6 yearsSource: College Scorecard
- Came back for year two
- 93%full-time first-year studentsSource: College Scorecard
- Median earnings
- $80,08210 years after starting, for students who got federal aidSource: College Scorecard
- Median debt at graduation
- $18,750federal loans, students who finishedSource: College Scorecard
Students
- Undergraduates
- 44,503Source: College Scorecard
- Receive Pell grants
- 16%a sign of economic diversitySource: College Scorecard
- First-generation students
- 19%parents didn't go beyond high schoolSource: College Scorecard
Similar schools
Similar, and easier to get into
- Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN — admits 78%
- Michigan State University East Lansing, MI — admits 85%
- University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN — admits 80%
- University of Arizona Tucson, AZ — admits 86%
Also worth a look
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI — admits 45%
- University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD — admits 45%
- University of California-Davis Davis, CA — admits 42%
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL — admits 42%
- Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN — admits 78%
- Florida International University Miami, FL — admits 55%
Where these numbers come from
Every number on this page comes from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard page for Purdue University-Main Campus, which draws on what the school reports to the federal government and on federal student aid and tax records. We last pulled the data on November 4, 2026. Different measures cover different years; here's how each one works.
Spot something wrong? Report a data error.