Quad

Key differences on Outcomes

  1. 1

    Cornell grads earn $20.8K more ten years out than Boston's ($104,043 vs. $83,238)

    Median earnings, 10 yrs
  2. 2

    Cornell graduates 8 pts more of its students than Boston (96% vs. 87%)

    Graduation rate

Outcomes

Outcomes

Earnings and finishing

Median earnings, 10 yrs
Cornell$104K
Boston$83.2K
Graduation rate
Cornell96%
Boston87%
Retention rate
Cornell98%
Boston95%

Borrowing

Median debt
Cornell$14K
Boston$23.3K
Undergrads with a federal loan
Cornell18%
Boston23%
Median debt, Pell Grant recipients
Cornell$10K
Boston$21.9K

Eight-year outcomes

Credential within 4 years, all students
Cornell90%
Boston80%
Credential within 8 years, all students
Cornell96%
Boston86%
Enrolled at another college, 8 years on
Cornell3%
Boston9%

Graduation by group

Graduated in 6 years, Pell Grant recipients
Cornell89%
Boston89%
Graduated in 6 years, neither Pell nor subsidized loan
Cornell96%
Boston88%
Pell graduation gap
Cornell7 pts lower
Boston1 pts higher

Graduated in 6 years, by race and ethnicity

GroupCornellBoston
White96%90%
Asian98%91%
Hispanic/Latino94%86%
Black91%85%
Two or more races91%86%
International96%87%

On-time progress, from the colleges' Common Data Sets

Finished withinCornellBoston
4 years: Pell recipients78%82%
4 years: neither Pell nor subsidized loan88%79%
4 years: all first-time full-time86%81%
5 years: Pell recipients86%87%
5 years: neither Pell nor subsidized loan95%87%
5 years: all first-time full-time93%87%

All outcome numbers in the table

Sources:College Scorecard, most recent release;Cornell University Common Data Set 2025–26, Entered fall 2024;College Scorecard, 2023–24;IPEDS Outcome Measures survey, Students entering fall 2016;Cornell University Common Data Set 2025–26, Entered fall 2019;College Scorecard, Entered fall 2023;IPEDS Graduation Rates survey (Pell Grant and subsidized loan recipients), Entered fall 2018;Boston University Common Data Set 2024–25, Entered fall 2018About the data(retrieved 2026-10-12)

Figures are the newest each college has published; years can differ between colleges. Each value's ⓘ shows its source and year. Why