BaccalaureatePrivate nonprofit

Houghton University

Houghton, New York·Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above·Mid East·houghton.edu
6-yr Graduation
65%
-2.0pp vs Baccalaureate
Total enrollment
1,200
peer median 1,848
Avg net price
$21,148
-$3.4k vs Baccalaureate
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AboutAdmissionsOutcomesProgram outcomesAccreditationCostFederal aidLoan defaultsAcademic programsEnrollment trendsAthleticsCampus safetyFacultyPeersIR OfficeDocumentsGrantsAlumni

About

Houghton University is a private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York, United States. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church. Houghton serves roughly 1000 students and has 54 degree majors for primarily undergraduate students.

Admissions & acceptance rate

First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.

IPEDS
Applied
1,041
1,041 candidates competed
Admitted
923
88.7% acceptance rate
Enrolled
214
23.2% yield

Graduation rate & outcomes

Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.

IPEDS
Overall completion
65%-2.0pp vs Baccalaureate
4-year graduation
55%
6-year graduation (bachelor’s)
67%
Full-time retention
84%

Pell equity

19.0pp gap
Pell recipients
55%
Non-Pell
74%

Non-Pell students graduate at a 19.0-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.

FVT/GE

Of 66 Title IV programs, 3 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 62 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.

Total programs
66
Passing
3
4.5% of portfolio
Failing (GE)
1
1.5% of portfolio
Fail rate
1.5%
+0.9pp vs 0.6% national

Pass / fail distribution

66programs
  • Passing3 · 4.5%
  • No Data62 · 93.9%
  • Failing1 · 1.5%

Severity spectrum

Critical
0
Severe
1
Recoverable
0
At Risk
0
Watch
1
Safe
2
No data
62

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.

4
Liberal Arts and Sciences General Studies and Humanities
Associate Degree · Liberal Arts And Sciences, General Studies And Humanities
-7.2%
$31,881 vs $34,350
Psychology General
Bachelor Degree · Psychology
+10.1%
$37,822 vs $34,350
Communication and Media Studies
Bachelor Degree · Communication, Journalism, And Related Programs
+31.4%
$45,134 vs $34,350
Business Administration Management and Operations
Bachelor Degree · Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
+75.8%
$60,393 vs $34,350

Accreditation status & history

Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.

DAPIP
AccreditedInstitutional accreditor

Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Accredited since 1935Next review Jan 2033

Programmatic accreditations · 2

Action history · 4

  1. Jun 2025Accreditation Reaffirmed: Warning Removed
    Middle States Commission on Higher Education
  2. Jun 2024Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: Warning
    Middle States Commission on Higher Education
  3. Apr 2019Grant Substantive Change: Other
    Middle States Commission on Higher Education
  4. Aug 2014Change in Agency recognition
    National Association of Schools of Music, Commission on Accreditation · Music (MUS) - Institutions and units within institutions offering degree-granting and/or non-degree-granting programs

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Tuition & cost

What families actually pay, broken down by family income.

College Scorecard

Net price by family income

Aid exceeds costFamily pays
$0–30k$17,213
$30–48k$17,292
$48–75k$20,133
$75–110k$22,275
$110k+$25,436

Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.

Avg net price (private)
$21,148
-$3,424vs Baccalaureate median $24,572
Federal loans
56.0%
In-state tuition
$17,290
Out-of-state
$17,290

Federal aid volume & trends

Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.

Federal Student Aid

In AY 2024–25, 319 students received $1.8M in Pell grants, alongside $3.7M in federal Direct Loans.

Pell recipients
319
AY 2024–25
Pell disbursed
$1.8M
$1,798,404 total
Direct Loans
$3.7M
805 loan awards

Pell recipients · 5-year trend

0k
’20
0k
’21
0k
’22
0k
’23
0k
’24

Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25

Subsidized$1.5M
347 loan awards
Unsubsidized · UG$1.3M
395 loan awards
Unsubsidized · Grad$162K
13 loan awards
Parent PLUS$681K
49 loan awards
Grad PLUS$14K
1 loan awards

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.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Student loan default rate

The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.

Cohort Default Rate

Of 295 borrowers who entered repayment, 2 (0.6%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.

Default rate
0.6%
-1.7pp vs 2.3% national
Borrowers in repayment
295
Defaulted
2
Measurement window
3 years
Federal CDR standard

Default rate vs national, by cohort

2016
2.6%
2017
1.6%
2018
1.9%
2019
0.6%
2020*
0.0%
This institutionNational rate

* 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.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Academic programs at Houghton

Top program areas ranked by completions.

IPEDS
Distinct CIP programs48
UndergraduateOffered
GraduateOffered

Top program families by completions

176 total completions
01Business
3620.5%
02Visual/Performing Arts
2514.2%
03Education
2212.5%
04Psychology
2111.9%
05Communication
1910.8%
06Parks/Recreation
148.0%
07English Language
116.3%
08Biological Sciences
116.3%
09Liberal Arts
95.1%
10History
84.5%

Enrollment trends & demographics

Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.

IPEDS
Fall total
1,200
12-mo unduplicated
1,090
Undergraduate
1,035
Graduate
55

Gender split

Men
35%386
Women
65%704

Race / ethnicity composition

White
74.9%
Black
6.3%
Non-resident
6.3%
Unknown
4.2%
Two or more
3.8%
Asian
2.4%
Hispanic
1.5%
American Indian / Alaska Native
0.5%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
0.1%

Athletics & Title IX gender equity

How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.

EADA
Athletes
232
113 M · 119 W
Women athletes
51.3%
Athletic aid
$0
Total student aid
Budget
$1.8M
Total expenses

Men vs women · spending splits

Athletic student aid
$0
$0
Recruiting expense
$14K
$11K
Head-coach salaries
$21K
$20K
Men Women

Sport-by-sport · 8

Track and Field and Cross Country (combined)
41 M · 64 W
$178K
Soccer
25 M · 24 W
$151K
Basketball
20 M · 15 W
$200K
Baseball
32 M · —
$120K
Volleyball
14 M · 14 W
$105K
Field Hockey
— · 20 W
$57K

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Campus safety & crime statistics

Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.

Clery Act
Criminal offenses · per 1,000 students
1.20
1 offenses · 833 students

3-year trend

0.002 yrs ago2.231 yr ago1.20Latest
Offenses · 3-yr
3
Last three years
VAWA · 3-yr
0
DV, dating, stalking
Hate crimes · 3-yr
0
Res-hall fires · 3-yr
0

Criminal offenses by type

Rape
1

By location

1total
  • Public property1

VAWA offenses

0
Domestic violence
0
Dating violence
0
Stalking
0 total under the Violence Against Women Act.

Hate crimes by bias

No hate crimes reported.

Arrests vs disciplinary referrals

CategoryArrestsReferrals
Weapons00
Drugs01
Liquor013

Residence-hall fires

No residence-hall fires reported.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Student-faculty ratio

Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.

IPEDS
Student-to-faculty
12.0:1
Instructional staff (full-time equivalent)
57

Houghton vs Peer comparison

The peer institutions Houghton selected for federal comparison reporting.

IPEDS
GraduationRetentionSelectivityEnrollmentAffordabilityYield
This institutionPeer median

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
SubjectHoughton University
65%—1,200$21,148Baccalaureate
Asbury University
65%63.4%2,100$20,428Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
George Fox University
72%93.5%4,916$29,981Doctoral/Professional
Gordon College
69%69.2%1,595$24,817Baccalaureate
Greenville University
40%97.5%1,104$21,270Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
Malone University
45%75.9%1,256$22,881Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs
Messiah University
75%79.0%3,373$27,686Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
Seattle Pacific University
62%83.4%2,261$24,820Doctoral/Professional
Taylor University
74%73.5%2,548$24,327Baccalaureate
Trinity International University-Illinois
46%100.0%869$21,386Doctoral/Professional
Westmont College
70%77.0%1,310$32,926Baccalaureate
Wheaton College
85%87.4%2,874$26,984Baccalaureate
Peer group median67%79.0%1,848$24,572

Houghton Institutional Research office

The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.

Team
1 member
  • Greg Bish
    Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness; Chief of Staff

Reports & documents (2)

Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.

Grants & funding (9)

Federal grant awards and open funding opportunities awarded to this institution.

USA Spending

Notable alumni of Houghton (20)

A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.

  • Gordon F. Allen
  • Yannick Anzuluni
  • Wilfred Conwell Bain
  • Robert Beckford
  • Ira Sprague Bowen
  • Lars Brownworth
  • Douglas Comer
  • Ronald Enroth
  • Victor P. Hamilton
  • Alan Heatherington
  • Joseph Hupp
  • Rolland E. Kidder
Showing 1–12 of 20
1 / 2

Frequently asked questions about Houghton University

Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Houghton.

What is the graduation rate at Houghton University?

Houghton University reports a 6-year graduation rate of 65% per the latest IPEDS.

How many students attend Houghton University?

Houghton University reports a total enrollment of 1,200 students per the latest IPEDS.

What is the average net price at Houghton University?

The average net price at Houghton University is $21,148 per the latest College Scorecard. Net price is the published cost of attendance minus grant aid.

What is the yield rate at Houghton University?

Houghton University's yield rate is 23.2%, the share of admitted students who enrolled, per the latest IPEDS.

Where is Houghton University located?

Houghton University is located in Houghton, New York 14744.

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