Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College

About This School

Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College is a public institution located in Erie, Pennsylvania with approximately 3,240 undergraduate students enrolled. Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College has an open or accessible admissions process, with an acceptance rate of 97%. The average net price after financial aid is $24,558 per year. The graduation rate is 44%, and the typical graduate earns $57,200 within 10 years of enrollment.

Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, officially Pennsylvania State University at Erie, The Behrend College and often shortened to Penn State Behrend, is a public satellite campus of Penn State University and is located near Erie, Pennsylvania. It is among the largest of Penn State's commonwealth campuses, with about 4,400 students enrolled in Behrend programs on campus and online. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in four academic schools: The Sam and Irene Black School of Business, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the School of Science, which includes the Nursing Program. Penn State Behrend also offers five master's degrees, as well as a range of continuing education trainings through its Community and Workforce Programs.

Students who want the Penn State name on their diploma without the sticker shock of University Park — and who are drawn to business, engineering, or the sciences — will find a lot to like here. The campus is small and accessible (97% acceptance rate), which can be a real advantage for students who want closer faculty relationships and a less overwhelming first-year experience, and the $57,200 median earnings at 10 years suggest graduates are landing on solid financial footing. That said, the 44% graduation rate is a genuine concern — it means fewer than half of students who start here finish, and before enrolling, you'd want to have an honest conversation about what's driving that number and whether your student has the support systems in place to be in the half that does. The $25,000 median debt is reasonable relative to those earnings, so the financial math isn't bad if your student does graduate. My advice: visit, ask admissions directly about academic support resources and what the typical student who doesn't finish looks like, and make sure Erie — a mid-sized city with a specific pace and culture — genuinely appeals to your family before committing.

Admissions

Cost & Financial Aid

After Graduation

Will This School Pay Off?

Earnings data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. These are means across all graduates, not specific to any major.

Student Body

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (3,240 undergraduates).

Contact & Location

Other Schools in Pennsylvania

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West Chester University of Pennsylvania

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Drexel University

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Community College of Philadelphia

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Net: $11,911Grad: 22%

See How Colleges Compare

Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College is one of thousands of colleges in our data studies, each built from the same U.S. Department of Education data shown on this page. Compare schools head to head:

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