Colleges With Many Pell Students and Strong Graduation Rates
The Pell Grant goes to students with the greatest financial need, so a high Pell share is a good proxy for access. Access without completion is not enough, though. This list ranks four-year colleges where at least half of undergraduates receive Pell Grants by the share of students who finish within six years.
Only 203 four-year colleges with at least 500 undergraduates meet the Pell threshold and report a graduation rate. We show the top 50. The highest graduation rate is 83%, the school in 50th place is at 53% and the median is 41%. Career Networks Institute ranks first. California has 14 entries. The median Pell share among qualifying schools is 58%.
Graduation rates measure first-time, full-time students who started in the 2018 cohort, so part-time and transfer students are not captured. Look at retention and earnings in the table to confirm that students who finish also do well afterward.
Schools on this list are worth a closer look if you will rely on need-based aid, because they have experience supporting students like you and a record of getting them to the finish line.
How this list is built
A college appears here only if it meets every condition below.
- Colleges considered
- All 4-year colleges (public, private nonprofit and for-profit)
- Ranked by graduation rate, highest first. Ties are broken by larger undergraduate enrollment, then by name.
- Main campuses only, with at least 60% of core data fields reported
- At least 500 undergraduate students enrolled (fall 2024)
- At least 50% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants
- A reported graduation rate value (schools without one are not ranked)
- Data period
- Graduation rate: first-time, full-time students who started in fall 2018 (4-year) or fall 2021 (2-year), finishing within 150% of normal time.
- Pell share: undergraduates receiving Pell Grants, academic year 2023-24.
- Net price by income: students with family income of $0 to $30,000, academic year 2023-24.
- Earnings: median earnings four years after completing, measured in 2022 and 2023 for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 cohorts, in 2024 dollars.
- Retention: first-time, full-time students from fall 2023 who returned the next fall.
- Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, June 2026 release.
Showing the top 50 of 203 qualifying schools. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| 1 | Career Networks Institute Santa Ana, CA For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 83% | 52% | $45,157 | $99,952 | 93% |
| 2 | Southeastern College-Boynton Beach Boynton Beach, FL For-profit · 4-year | 77% | 77% | $27,640 | $42,464 | — |
| 3 | Uta Mesivta of Kiryas Joel Monroe, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission | 74% | 87% | $3,915 | $27,957 | 95% |
| 4 | Parker University Dallas, TX Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission | 73% | 50% | $26,817 | $52,900 | — |
| 5 | Stanbridge University Irvine, CA For-profit · 4-year | 72% | 61% | $36,623 | $67,498 | 88% |
| 6 | CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 72% | 57% | $607 | $82,748 | 89% |
| 7 | Cambridge College of Healthcare & Technology Delray Beach, FL For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 70% | 63% | $20,768 | $51,259 | — |
| 8 | Yeshivath Viznitz Monsey, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission | 69% | 93% | $7,589 | $19,601 | 97% |
| 9 | California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 69% | 50% | $7,183 | $63,140 | 86% |
| 10 | University of California-Merced Merced, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 69% | 59% | $7,945 | $65,410 | 83% |
| 11 | Hallmark University San Antonio, TX Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 67% | 53% | $10,662 | $59,410 | 70% |
| 12 | Plaza College Forest Hills, NY For-profit · 4-year | 65% | 85% | $19,692 | $45,706 | — |
| 13 | West Virginia Junior College-Morgantown Morgantown, WV For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 65% | 74% | $14,652 | $36,699 | — |
| 14 | University of La Verne La Verne, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 64% | 51% | — | $64,109 | 70% |
| 15 | Smith Chason College Los Angeles, CA For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 64% | 59% | $32,969 | $65,533 | 82% |
| 16 | Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science Cincinnati, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | 64% | 51% | $17,891 | $75,464 | — |
| 17 | Southwest University at El Paso El Paso, TX For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 62% | 82% | — | $36,187 | 64% |
| 18 | Glendale Career College Glendale, CA For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 61% | 51% | $47,983 | $48,064 | — |
| 19 | Saint Peter's University Jersey City, NJ Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 61% | 52% | $10,783 | $64,352 | 72% |
| 20 | Berea College Berea, KY Private nonprofit · 4-year | 60% | 84% | $5,428 | $42,924 | 83% |
| 21 | Everglades University Boca Raton, FL Private nonprofit · 4-year | 59% | 72% | $25,556 | $59,470 | 75% |
| 22 | CUNY Hunter College New York, NY Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 59% | 56% | $1,029 | $73,236 | 79% |
| 23 | Dominican University River Forest, IL Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 59% | 52% | $9,759 | $59,507 | 79% |
| 24 | Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 59% | 86% | $23,939 | $34,393 | — |
| 25 | Goodwin University East Hartford, CT Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission | 58% | 54% | $28,205 | $72,845 | — |
| 26 | Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale, FL Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 58% | 57% | $29,143 | $51,106 | 74% |
| 27 | Saint Xavier University Chicago, IL Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 58% | 59% | $7,572 | $66,961 | 75% |
| 28 | United Talmudical Seminary Brooklyn, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission | 58% | 87% | $6,446 | $18,950 | 89% |
| 29 | University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC Public · 4-year | 57% | 50% | $7,305 | $51,594 | 77% |
| 30 | Monroe University Bronx, NY For-profit · 4-year | 57% | 55% | $14,058 | $48,907 | 68% |
| 31 | California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 57% | 56% | $4,905 | $59,664 | 74% |
| 32 | Las Vegas College Las Vegas, NV For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 57% | 51% | $28,550 | $42,732 | — |
| 33 | Be'er Yaakov Talmudic Seminary Spring Valley, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission | 56% | 92% | $4,122 | $19,100 | 98% |
| 34 | Sullivan University Louisville, KY For-profit · 4-year · Open admission | 56% | 56% | $24,325 | $53,068 | — |
| 35 | North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, NC Public · 4-year · HBCU | 56% | 52% | $8,223 | $56,996 | 79% |
| 36 | Tuskegee University Tuskegee, AL Private nonprofit · 4-year · HBCU | 56% | 58% | $34,324 | $69,077 | 78% |
| 37 | California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 56% | 57% | $5,105 | $59,992 | 80% |
| 38 | CUNY City College New York, NY Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 56% | 61% | $1,251 | $67,740 | 79% |
| 39 | CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 56% | 60% | $1,073 | $60,020 | 81% |
| 40 | California State University-Stanislaus Turlock, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 56% | 55% | $3,938 | $58,952 | 81% |
| 41 | Regent University Virginia Beach, VA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 56% | 51% | $20,064 | $56,558 | 71% |
| 42 | CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY Public · 4-year | 55% | 57% | $1,029 | $62,833 | 80% |
| 43 | California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 55% | 58% | $2,681 | $55,441 | 79% |
| 44 | St. Francis College Brooklyn, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year · Open admission · Hispanic-Serving | 54% | 56% | $15,700 | $58,523 | 60% |
| 45 | Georgia State University Atlanta, GA Public · 4-year | 53% | 51% | $13,787 | $58,898 | 79% |
| 46 | Mount Saint Mary's University Los Angeles, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 53% | 57% | $23,849 | $79,546 | 72% |
| 47 | Chestnut Hill College Philadelphia, PA Private nonprofit · 4-year | 53% | 52% | $28,011 | $55,964 | 64% |
| 48 | California State University-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Public · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 53% | 66% | $2,877 | $59,756 | 72% |
| 49 | Fresno Pacific University Fresno, CA Private nonprofit · 4-year · Hispanic-Serving | 53% | 58% | $11,133 | $63,285 | 75% |
| 50 | Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee, FL Public · 4-year · HBCU | 53% | 54% | $13,299 | $52,657 | 88% |
States with schools on this list
Browse every college in these states.