College Viability Inspection Report

Grove City College

Pennsylvania · Private, not-for-profit

Grove City College is a private, nonprofit institution in Pennsylvania, enrolling 2,330 students as of 2024. It graduates 76% of students in four years, returns 88% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $25,289 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 8 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 2 are flagged: Tuition Allocation and Price vs. Outcomes. This report benchmarks Grove City College'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.

Data note: The U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS database did not include every reported figure for Grove City College between 2020 and 2024. 1 indicator is not reported in IPEDS for any year 2020–2024 and 1 inspection flag could not be evaluated for lack of data — affected indicators are tagged below; missing years are shown as gaps in trend charts rather than estimated.

Grove City College 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

Grove City College — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Grove City College. 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 Rate76.0%+7.0%93rd
Six-Year Graduation Rate81.0%-1.2%89th
Full-Time Retention Rate88.0%+1.1%82nd
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Ratenot reportednot reportednot reported
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gapnot reportednot reportednot reported
Pell Share of Cohort0.0%0.0%0th

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio2.11×+110.5%99th
Total FTE Enrollment2,330+1.2%61st
Endowment Value$276.8M+89.1%82nd
Net Assets (End of Year)$382.4M+26.7%80th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %42.6%-9.5%81st
Student Support Spending %1.0%+2.8%3rd
Administrative Spending %16.7%+0.5%44th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio2.61×-9.7%46th
Average Net Price$25,289+13.0%74th
Net Price: $0-30K Incomenot reportednot reportednot reported
Net Price: $30K-48K Incomenot reportednot reportednot reported
Net Price: $48-75K Incomenot reportednot reportednot reported
Net Price: $75K-110K Incomenot reportednot reportednot reported
Net Price: $110K+ Incomenot reportednot reportednot reported

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Grove City College's retention rate stayed at or above 87% in all 5 reported years — above the 80% threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
Grove City College's 4-year graduation rate stayed at or above 71% in all 5 reported years — above the 50% threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Not enough reported data for this flag — only 0 of 5 years had a Pell cohort of 50+ students.
Student OutcomesNot Evaluated
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Grove City College'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
Grove City College's total enrollment grew from 2,302 to 2,330 students between 2020 and 2024 (+1.2%).
Financial HealthCleared
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Grove City College's endowment is $276.8M and grew +89.1% between 2020 and 2024 — clearing both the $50 million size threshold and the 15% growth threshold.
Financial HealthCleared
High Cost, Low Completion
Grove City College 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
Grove City College spends $2.61 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin (2024) — below the national median of $2.75 in 3 of 5 reported years.
Value for MoneyTriggered
Rising Price, Falling Outcomes
Both conditions were met: Grove City College's net price rose while the 6-year graduation rate declined between 2020 and 2024 — a prompt to ask whether tuition increases are translating into stronger student outcomes.
Value for MoneyTriggered