American Public University System
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell recipients graduate at a higher rate than non-Pell students here — unusual and worth investigating.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 173 Title IV programs, 64 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 109 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing64 · 37.0%
- No Data109 · 63.0%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Higher Learning Commission
Distance Education Accrediting Commission
Programmatic accreditations · 3
Action history · 4
- Aug 2022Renewal of AccreditationCouncil on Education for Public Health · Public Health Programs (PHPG) - Graduate level program offered outside a school of public health
- Apr 2022Renewal of AccreditationCommission on Collegiate Nursing Education · Nursing (CNURED) - Nursing education programs at the graduate degree levels
- Aug 2021Renewal of AccreditationHigher Learning Commission
- Mar 2017Renewal of AccreditationCommission on Collegiate Nursing Education · Nursing (CNURED) - Nursing education programs at the baccalaureate degree levels
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 19,774 students received $76.9M in Pell grants, alongside $91.1M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 9,587 borrowers who entered repayment, 234 (2.4%) defaulted within three years — above the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at APUS
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
APUS vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions APUS selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectAmerican Public University System | 57% | — | 50,715 | $9,104 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Full Sail University | 45% | — | 27,169 | $31,759 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Columbia Southern University | 26% | — | 17,763 | $14,975 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Strayer University-North Carolina | 33% | — | 3,037 | — | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Sullivan University | — | — | 2,498 | $25,785 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Strayer University-Virginia | 19% | — | 1,998 | — | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
| Peer group median | 33% | — | 10,400 | $20,380 |
Frequently asked questions about American Public University System
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about APUS.
What is the graduation rate at American Public University System?
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