College Viability Inspection Report

College of Our Lady of the Elms

Massachusetts · Private, not-for-profit

College of Our Lady of the Elms is a private, nonprofit institution in Massachusetts, enrolling 968 students as of 2024. It graduates 68% of students in four years, returns 76% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $19,870 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 9 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 5 are flagged: Retention, Equity Gap, Enrollment, Endowment, and Tuition Allocation. This report benchmarks College of Our Lady of the Elms's most recent reported year (2024) against 2,000+ U.S. colleges across three dimensions: student outcomes, financial health, and value for money. All figures are drawn from federal IPEDS filings and are reported without editorial judgment.

College of Our Lady of the Elms Inspection Flags

Student Outcomes
Financial Health
Value for Your Money

Inspection flags are nine independent checks across student outcomes, financial health, and cost-to-value that surface areas of a college's reported numbers worth a closer look. A triggered flag means the college's data met a specific threshold that students and families may want to ask about — for example, graduation rates slipping below a level, or tuition rising while outcomes decline. A clear flag means the threshold was not met. Flags are signals for further conversation, not verdicts.

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College Viability
Data Summary

College of Our Lady of the Elms — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for College of Our Lady of the Elms. Values reflect IPEDS-reported figures; percent changes reflect endpoint-to-endpoint 2020 → 2024 comparison; percentiles reflect 2024 national rank against four-year public and private nonprofit institutions. Cells marked "not reported" indicate the indicator was not present in IPEDS for this institution.

Student Outcomes

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Four-Year Graduation Rate68.0%+25.9%86th
Six-Year Graduation Rate75.0%+13.6%83rd
Full-Time Retention Rate76.0%-3.8%47th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate64.2%+24.2%78th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap6.3pp-74.2%39th
Pell Share of Cohort37.6%-22.8%48th

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.11×-7.8%58th
Total FTE Enrollment968-8.6%35th
Endowment Value$24.4M+78.6%33rd
Net Assets (End of Year)$61.1M+41.6%41st

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %37.5%-0.2%67th
Student Support Spending %18.1%+30.5%71st
Administrative Spending %37.7%+106.2%92nd
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio1.47×-47.6%17th
Average Net Price$19,870-21.6%53rd
Net Price: $0-30K Income$8,099-62.4%19th
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$22,645+4.2%84th
Net Price: $48-75K Income$17,539-22.0%56th
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$21,243-23.5%55th
Net Price: $110K+ Income$25,491-17.0%53rd

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
College of Our Lady of the Elms's retention rate fell below 80% in 4 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
College of Our Lady of the Elms's 4-year graduation rate stayed at or above 54% in all 5 reported years — above the 50% threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
College of Our Lady of the Elms's Pell graduation gap exceeded 10 percentage points in 4 of 5 eligible years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
College of Our Lady of the Elms's ratio fell below 1.0 in 1 of 5 reported years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Financial HealthCleared
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
College of Our Lady of the Elms's total enrollment fell from 1,059 to 968 students between 2020 and 2024 (-8.6%) — a decline of 5% or more.
Financial HealthTriggered
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
College of Our Lady of the Elms's endowment is $24.4M, under the $50 million threshold. A smaller endowment leaves less cushion for scholarships and for tough budget years, even though it grew +78.6% over the period.
Financial HealthTriggered
High Cost, Low Completion
College of Our Lady of the Elms costs more than the national median but also graduates students at above-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
College of Our Lady of the Elms spends $1.47 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin (2024) — below the national median of $2.75 in 4 of 5 reported years.
Value for MoneyTriggered
Rising Price, Falling Outcomes
Either net price did not rise or the graduation rate did not decline between 2020 and 2024 — flag not triggered.
Value for MoneyCleared