What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$10,099 to $25,580 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $30,952 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $19,117.Aid and debt
48.3%
receive need-based grants
$38,652
average debt at graduation
4,990
students got merit aid
about 26% of undergraduates
$10,222
average merit award
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1220–1370 · 19% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 28–32 · 3% of the class submitted
31.5% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- In-state residency
- Important
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Considered
- Class rank
- SAT/ACT scores
- First-gen status
- Where you're from
- Demonstrated interest
- Not considered
- Legacy status
What this means for you
Delaware rates course rigor as Very Important, and your essay, your recommendations, and your activities as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. A strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Recommendations matter here too — a recommender who knows you well helps. And depth and leadership in a few activities matter more than a long list.
Delaware rates demonstrated interest 'Considered' — it can tip a close decision, without being decisive.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Delaware just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Delaware essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
31.8% of Delaware classes have fewer than 20 students.
31.8%
under 20 students
49.5%
20 to 49
18.7%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Delaware CDS 2024–25, I-3.
16:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
64.7%
first-years from out of state
37%
live on campus
20%
of men in fraternities
25%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White67.6%
- Hispanic10.2%
- Black6.1%
- Asian5.6%
- Multiracial5.2%
- Unknown / other1.9%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Delaware CDS 2024–25, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
74% of Delaware students graduate in 4 years.
74%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2018
82.6%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2018
92%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
72.9% finish in 6 years, against 82.6% of all students.
A 9.7-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Newark.
Newark is a small city where the median age is 22 — the university is the town, and Main Street runs straight off the edge of campus rather than sitting somewhere you have to drive to.
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What separates it from a genuinely remote college town is the interstate: Wilmington is 20 minutes up I-95, Philadelphia under an hour, and Baltimore about an hour the other way, so a student can have a small walkable town on weekdays and a major city on a Saturday. The trade-off is that Newark itself is compact, and students who want a city's worth of things to do on a Tuesday night will be getting in a car.
The City
College town
Newark, DE
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Joe Biden
The 46th President of the United States, who earned a bachelor's degree in history and political science at Delaware before law school at Syracuse.
Class of 1965
Daniel Nathans
Shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction enzymes, after graduating summa cum laude in chemistry here.
Class of 1950
Robert W. Gore
Chemical engineering graduate who invented the expanded PTFE behind Gore-Tex and later led W. L. Gore & Associates, the company his parents founded and which is still headquartered in Newark.
Class of 1959
Susan Stroman
Five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer of The Producers, who studied English at Delaware before moving to New York.
Class of 1976
Elena Delle Donne
Two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player, who transferred home to Delaware and finished as one of the highest scorers in Division I women's basketball history.
Class of 2013
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
UDance
A year-long student fundraising effort that ends in a 12-hour dance marathon for the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, a Wilmington childhood-cancer charity. It is the largest student-run philanthropy on campus and has raised more than $23 million since 2007.
The Kissing Arches
The triple brick archway beside Memorial Hall, added in 1940, where couples said goodnight before curfew when the Green was split between Delaware College and the Women's College. Campus lore holds that five kisses under the arches means marriage.
The UDairy Creamery
A student-run creamery making ice cream on site from the university's own dairy herd, part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It has been the default campus stop since it opened in 2011.
Ag Day
Each spring the agriculture college opens the campus to the public for a day of ninety-plus demonstrations, exhibits, plant sales and food — the clearest reminder that Delaware is a land-grant university.
Weekend escapes from Newark
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Newark
White Clay Creek State Park
10 minutesNearly 3,700 acres and around 37 miles of trail immediately outside town, close enough to run or bike to from campus.
Philadelphia, PA
50 minutesThe nearest big city — museums, concerts, pro sports and a full night out, about 46 miles up I-95.
Baltimore, MD
1 hourThe Inner Harbor and Fells Point in the other direction, roughly 57 miles south on the same interstate.
Rehoboth Beach and the Delaware shore
about 1 hour 45 minutesThe state's own Atlantic beach towns, the standard early-fall and late-spring trip.
New York City
2.5 hoursFar enough to be a planned weekend rather than a day out, but reachable by car or by rail from the Northeast Corridor station on campus.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
45 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Philadelphia Eagles NFL
- Philadelphia Phillies MLB
- Philadelphia 76ers NBA
- Philadelphia Flyers NHL
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Delaware sits inside two industries that are unusually concentrated for a state this small. Wilmington, 20 minutes up I-95, is a corporate-law and banking center — the Court of Chancery hears the corporate cases of the roughly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies incorporated here, and JPMorgan Chase alone employs more than 11,000 people across its Wilmington and Newark sites. The second is chemistry and materials, the DuPont inheritance: Chemours runs its headquarters in Wilmington and a discovery hub on UD's own STAR Campus, W. L. Gore is headquartered in Newark, and ChristianaCare — Delaware's largest private employer, with more than 13,000 people — has its flagship hospital in Newark as well.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- ChristianaCare
- JPMorgan Chase
- W. L. Gore & Associates
- Chemours
- Incyte
Wilmington — about 20 minutes up I-95; Philadelphia is roughly 50 minutes from campus
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Delaware is a 19,287-undergraduate campus in Newark, a small city whose Main Street runs straight off the edge of it, and it is unusual among public flagships for who it enrolls: only 33.9% of its first-year class comes from Delaware itself. Student life leans on things students run — UDance, a year-long fundraiser for a Wilmington childhood-cancer charity that ends in a 12-hour marathon, is the biggest thing on the calendar — while 37% of undergraduates live in university housing and 20% of men and 25% of women join Greek life. It holds on to people well once they arrive: 92.0% return after the first year and 82.6% finish within six. Two things to weigh against that. Classes run larger than a campus this size suggests, with 31.8% of sections under 20 students and a 16-to-1 student-faculty ratio. And the money is the harder question — Delaware meets 60.5% of demonstrated need and borrowers leave owing $38,652, which is a real sum for the two-thirds of this class already paying the out-of-state rate.