About
Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, United States. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District and is a National Historic Landmark.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 4.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 50 Title IV programs, 8 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 2 fail. 40 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing8 · 16.0%
- No Data40 · 80.0%
- Failing2 · 4.0%
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.
Near the line (±5%)
Programs within five points of the pass line, one cohort year from flipping.
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.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Programmatic accreditations · 1
Action history · 14
- May 2025Voluntary Withdrawal ReceivedMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
- Apr 2023Grant Substantive Change: OtherMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
- Jan 2022Grant Substantive Change: OtherMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
- Jun 2021Grant Substantive Change: OtherMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
- Apr 2021Grant Substantive Change: OtherMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
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, 824 students received $4.6M in Pell grants, alongside $13.6M 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 581 borrowers who entered repayment, 4 (0.6%) defaulted within three years — below 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 Bard College
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
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 11
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
- On campus11
- Non-campus2
Includes 2 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
- National origin1
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
- Keen South1 fireOtherDamage $0-$99
- Resnick I1 fireCookingDamage $100-$999
- Robbins1 fireOtherDamage $100-$999
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Bard College vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Bard College 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectBard College | 68% | — | 2,911 | $31,771 | Baccalaureate |
Amherst College | 94% | 9.0% | 1,914 | $18,246 | Baccalaureate |
Barnard College | 93% | 8.8% | 3,487 | $39,253 | Baccalaureate |
Bates College | 90% | 13.3% | 1,760 | $30,703 | Baccalaureate |
Bowdoin College | 95% | 7.1% | 1,881 | $20,786 | Baccalaureate |
Bryn Mawr College | 82% | 29.4% | 1,679 | $40,690 | Baccalaureate |
Carleton College | 90% | 20.4% | 2,128 | $27,320 | Baccalaureate |
Grinnell College | 88% | 14.5% | 1,788 | $15,608 | Baccalaureate |
Hamilton College | 91% | 13.6% | 2,031 | $28,314 | Baccalaureate |
Haverford College | 90% | 12.4% | 1,431 | $25,210 | Baccalaureate |
Lewis & Clark College | 75% | 78.5% | 3,504 | $36,084 | Baccalaureate |
Macalester College | 87% | 28.5% | 2,138 | $29,980 | Baccalaureate |
Middlebury College | 91% | 10.7% | 2,803 | $25,934 | Baccalaureate |
Mount Holyoke College | 84% | 36.0% | 2,275 | $29,562 | Baccalaureate |
Oberlin College | 81% | 34.2% | 2,909 | $39,184 | Baccalaureate |
Pomona College | 93% | 7.1% | 1,700 | $19,424 | Baccalaureate |
Reed College | 71% | 24.6% | 1,358 | $39,951 | Baccalaureate |
Sarah Lawrence College | 71% | 61.7% | 1,798 | $21,132 | Baccalaureate |
Skidmore College | 83% | 21.1% | 2,704 | $34,581 | Baccalaureate |
Smith College | 89% | 21.0% | 2,857 | $26,181 | Baccalaureate |
Swarthmore College | 92% | 7.5% | 1,623 | $18,686 | Baccalaureate |
The University of the South | 80% | 56.9% | 1,724 | $27,498 | Baccalaureate |
Vassar College | 91% | 18.6% | 2,462 | $38,182 | Baccalaureate |
Wellesley College | 92% | 14.0% | 2,407 | $25,008 | Baccalaureate |
Wesleyan University | 93% | 16.5% | 4,011 | $27,888 | Baccalaureate |
Whitman College | 81% | 38.1% | 1,561 | $35,506 | Baccalaureate |
Williams College | 94% | 8.3% | 2,164 | $14,852 | Baccalaureate |
| Peer group median | 90% | 17.5% | 2,128 | $27,888 |
Bard College Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
At the direction of the US Department of Education, Bard is required to disclose certain information to consumers, including students, employees, and parents. The Office of Institutional Research has created this website to provide a convenient and easy-to-use portal to access this information.
Visit IR office page- Johnny BrennanDirector, OIS
- Peter GadsbyRegistrar, Vice President for Institutional Research
Common Data Set (1)
The institution's official annual Common Data Set publications — the most detailed reference for enrollment, admissions, and outcomes.
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Notable alumni of Bard College (10)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- Chevy ChaseFilm, Television and Theatre
- Mia FarrowFilm, Television and Theatre
- Gaby HoffmannFilm, Television and Theatre
- Peter SarsgaardFilm, Television and Theatre
- Walter BeckerMusic
- Donald FagenMusic
- Adam YauchMusic
- Tom FordFashion
- Ronan FarrowJournalism
- Matt TaibbiJournalism
Frequently asked questions about Bard College
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Bard College.
What is the graduation rate at Bard College?
How many students attend Bard College?
What is the average net price at Bard College?
What is the yield rate at Bard College?
Where is Bard College located?
Who runs Institutional Research at Bard College?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about Bard College and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card