College Viability Inspection Report

University of Providence

Montana · Private, not-for-profit

University of Providence is a private, nonprofit institution in Montana, enrolling 546 students as of 2024. It graduates 31% of students in four years, returns 72% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $16,598 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 8 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 6 are flagged: Retention, Graduation, Revenue to Expenses, Enrollment, Endowment, and Tuition Allocation. This report benchmarks University of Providence'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 University of Providence between 2020 and 2024. 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.

University of Providence 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

University of Providence — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for University of Providence. 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 Rate31.0%+10.7%34th
Six-Year Graduation Rate40.0%-7.0%24th
Full-Time Retention Rate72.0%+18.0%36th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate24.4%-40.9%12th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap-5.2pp+24.7%10th
Pell Share of Cohort30.4%-43.1%32nd

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.15×+37.4%68th
Total FTE Enrollment546-19.0%22nd
Endowment Value$20.4M+41.5%30th
Net Assets (End of Year)$46.9M+54.4%34th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %27.9%-7.6%29th
Student Support Spending %28.3%+7.5%94th
Administrative Spending %34.8%-1.5%90th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio1.61×+0.9%20th
Average Net Price$16,598-33.7%40th
Net Price: $0-30K Income$14,257-38.1%52nd
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$11,616-51.1%35th
Net Price: $48-75K Income$16,802-31.5%52nd
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$22,545-18.8%61st
Net Price: $110K+ Income$20,676-19.4%30th

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
University of Providence's retention rate fell below 80% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
University of Providence's 4-year graduation rate fell below 50% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Not enough reported data for this flag — only 2 of 5 years had a Pell cohort of 50+ students.
Student OutcomesNot Evaluated
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
University of Providence's revenue-to-expense ratio fell below 1.0 in 3 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold. 2024: 1.15×.
Financial HealthTriggered
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
University of Providence's total enrollment fell from 674 to 546 students between 2020 and 2024 (-19.0%) — a decline of 5% or more.
Financial HealthTriggered
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
University of Providence's endowment is $20.4M, under the $50 million threshold. A smaller endowment leaves less cushion for scholarships and for tough budget years, even though it grew +41.5% over the period.
Financial HealthTriggered
High Cost, Low Completion
University of Providence costs less than the national median AND graduates students at below-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
University of Providence spends $1.61 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin (2024) — below the national median of $2.75 in 5 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