We will walk through it in the same order your family would need: first, what kind of school this is; then, who its students are; next, how it teaches, how it admits students, how much it costs, how it is paid for, what life is like there, and what happens to those who enroll. In the end, you decide what to do with all of this.
What kind of school Skidmore College is
According to the Carnegie Classification, Skidmore is an arts-and-sciences-focused baccalaureate college: a small, four-year, highly residential school. That last word matters. “Highly residential” means that, at the time of the data, at least half of degree-seeking undergraduate students lived in institution-owned or institution-affiliated housing, and that at least 80 out of every 100 studied full time. It is a school designed for students to live there, not just to take classes there.
Carnegie also places it in its more selective admissions group. That label does not tell you how many out of every 100 applicants get in—we will look at that later, with its own number—but it does indicate the type of company it keeps.
Geographically, Skidmore is in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, within the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan area. Its census code places it in a suburb: within the urbanized area, but outside the principal city. If your child were considering living at home and commuting, the only honest way to know how long it would take is to drive that route on a weekday at the actual time of the classes. The map always lies a little.
It is a private, nonprofit, four-year institution. The highest level it reports offering is the bachelor’s degree—this describes the institution and does not guarantee which credential each particular program awards; if your child’s major matters, verify it directly.
And one clarification worth making right away: Skidmore has none of three specific designations that other schools in this country do have—it is not a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. Of the 3,012 colleges and universities in this directory, 138 have at least one of them. Skidmore’s not having one says nothing about which students it serves or how your child would feel there. You investigate that by asking which cultural centers and student organizations exist today and by talking with someone who already studies there.
How many students there are and who they are
Skidmore had 2,776 students enrolled in the official fall count. It is midsized—between 1,000 and 4,999—and, compared with the 941 similar selective private schools in this census, it falls right in the middle: neither among the large schools nor the small ones. There is no graduate enrollment in that count; all 2,776 are undergraduate students.
Within that undergraduate population, 10 out of every 100 students are Hispanic or Latino. It is a small minority—above the midpoint of its selective private peers on this measure, but not in the top quarter. If your family is Latino, I want to tell you this plainly: there are few Latino students here. That does not automatically take the school off the list, but it is a question worth asking during the visit: what specifically exists for Latino students—a student group, a cultural center, someone in the office who speaks Spanish?
There are more women than men—59 out of every 100 are women—and there are almost no adult students: just 1 out of every 100 is between the ages of 25 and 64. In that sense, this is an eighteen-to-twenty-two-year-old campus.
One fact that often surprises people: fewer than half of first-time students, 33 out of every 100, had their permanent residence in New York State. The rest come from other states or other countries, or their residence was not clearly reported. This does not directly measure distance or travel cost, but if your family lives far away, it helps to know that many students here also came from far away. Compare the full cost of attendance and build your budget around real trips, not the distance shown on the map.
How academic life is organized
Skidmore’s academic year is divided into semesters: two long terms of about 15 weeks. In its official report, the school stated that it accepts credit from AP exams, but it did not indicate that it awards credit for life experience. It also enrolls high school students in college courses for credit, both within and outside a formal dual-enrollment program.
Here is a useful warning: accepting AP does not mean the school awards credit for every exam or that the credit counts toward your child’s specific major. Before budgeting for savings in time or money from AP exams, ask for the equivalency evaluation in writing.
In a recent year, Skidmore awarded 617 bachelor’s degrees across 17 distinct fields of study. None accounts for an enormous share: the largest, business and management, represented just 17 out of every 100 degrees. It is a broad offering, without a single program dominating the landscape. Compared with 942 similar selective private schools, Skidmore is in the quarter that awards the most degrees per year. But be careful: this counts degrees awarded, not people or the current catalog of majors. It does not measure quality or what job someone gets after earning a degree there. If your child is interested in a specific major, ask directly how many students graduated in it, how long it took them, and what the full curriculum is.
As for the relationship between students and faculty, Skidmore reports 8 students per full-time-equivalent faculty member. That is a very low ratio: it is in the lowest quarter among its 941 selective peers. It sounds good, and it probably is, but a low aggregate ratio does not directly measure actual class size or guarantee individual attention. Ask, using specific numbers, how many students are in first-year classes.
Skidmore also reports structured academic pathways: study abroad, preparation for teacher certification below the postsecondary level, and state approval of its initial teacher certification program.
How to get in
Here we come to one of the most important parts of this article, because it determines how your child will spend next summer.
Skidmore does not have open admission. It reviews specific materials before saying yes, and of the nine considerations measured by this count—not including standardized tests or legacy status—it marks five as required: the high school record, completion of the college-preparatory course plan the college requires, the personal essay, letters of recommendation, and the English proficiency exam for applicants to whom it applies. It also considers, though does not require, the high school GPA, class rank, and work experience.
Put plainly: at this school, gathering paperwork is not enough. The essay is required. Your child has to write, and write well. The published application fee is $65. If the essay is a required component, your child should start it in the summer, not during the week of the deadline. The first draft is almost never the one that gets submitted.
Now for the hard numbers on how selective it is in practice. In the 2023 cycle, Skidmore received 12,144 first-time applications and offered admission to 2,784. That is 23 out of every 100. This left 9,360 applicants without an offer of admission. Compared with 942 selective private schools in this census, Skidmore is among those that accept the smallest share: nine out of ten schools in that group, or more, accepted a higher percentage of applicants.
I want to be clear about what this number does not say. It does not separate those who were denied from those who were wait-listed or withdrew their applications. Most importantly, this percentage measures how many offers were made relative to how many people applied. It does not measure your child’s worth. A low number does not make the school better; a high one does not make it worse. The healthy approach is for your child’s list to include schools on both sides—some that are very selective and others that accept most applicants.
Of those who did receive a yes, how many decide to come? Out of every 100 students admitted for the first year of 2023, 26 enrolled here. The other 74 had the letter in hand and did not use it. This percentage is among the most common for its selective peers—neither particularly high nor low. Put another way, of every four admitted students, about one ends up coming. This number also does not measure quality or satisfaction; it counts only enrollment decisions from one fall. When your child’s admission letters arrive, this fact does not decide anything for you: put the letters side by side and compare net price, major, and distance before the deposit deadline.
Regarding standardized tests: the SAT and ACT are not required at Skidmore. If your child submits them, they are considered; if not, the application remains valid all the same. Among those who enrolled and submitted SAT scores—25 out of every 100 in the enrolled cohort—the middle half scored between 660 and 730 in reading and writing and between 640 and 730 in mathematics. Those numbers describe only students who submitted scores and enrolled, not all applicants, and they do not confirm whether the scores influenced admission. That 660 is not a minimum your child must reach, and that 730 guarantees nothing.
Finally, regarding transfers: of the cohort that entered in 2017 as full-time bachelor’s-degree-seeking students, 12 out of every 100 appear to have transferred to another school without finishing at Skidmore within the expected period. This is a low share compared with similar schools—most schools in that comparison group saw more students leave. That 12 out of every 100 does not say what happened to the others: they may have graduated, remained enrolled, or stopped studying. On the other hand, very few students arrive at Skidmore as transfers: just 24 in the fall 2023 count. If your child were considering transferring here or away from here, this fact does not say how many credits would be accepted. Ask for that in writing, with the course list in hand, before moving anyone.
How much it costs
At Skidmore College, among 38 first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $20,906. Among 35 students from the same population with EFC family income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $17,308; among 156 students with EFC family income above $110,000, it was $46,513. For dependent students, the band combines their parents’ income with their own.
There is a difference of $25,607 between the average for the lowest-income band, which included 38 students, and the average for the highest-income band, which included 156 students. These are group averages, not a prediction of your family’s price. Among first-year students who received any scholarship or grant, the average was $32,368.
Even after scholarships and grants were deducted, the average net price for the lowest-income families was $20,906 in the 2022-23 academic year. If that number does not fit your budget, it is better to see it today than in August.
Because the price changes so much from one income band to another, correctly identifying yours comes first. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, they use the in-state or in-district rate. The overall average with scholarships or grants, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional scholarships or grants. What matters is the financial aid letter sent to you.
How it is paid for: scholarships, loans, and options
Among Skidmore’s degree-seeking students, 57 out of every 100 received aid that does not have to be repaid—scholarships and grants. That is more than half, not everyone. Among those who received it, the annual average was $49,911. Compared with its 942 selective private peers, Skidmore is in the quarter where scholarships and grants reach a smaller proportion of students.
A large average scholarship or grant amount sounds reassuring, but it is not a price: none of this is the specific offer your child will receive. What matters is the amount left after aid, and you have to request that school by school, letter by letter.
Only 14 out of every 100 students received Pell Grants, the federal aid reserved for low-income families with demonstrated need. That is a low percentage and, together with the net price we saw above, paints a consistent picture: in its current composition, Skidmore is not a school with a large proportion of low-income students.
Regarding loans—one of the most important parts of this article—34 out of every 100 students across the entire undergraduate population received a federal loan in the 2022-23 school year. That is more than two out of ten, but fewer than half. Among those who did borrow, the average amount was $6,073 that year. Compared with its 942 selective peers, Skidmore is on the low side: seven out of ten of those schools, or more, had a higher proportion of students with loans.
It is important to be precise about what this number covers and what it does not. It is for a single school year and only for federal loans in the student’s name. It does not include Parent PLUS loans that parents sometimes sign for, bank debt, or credit cards. And it is not the total debt with which a student leaves upon graduation—for that, you would have to add all four years, and that number is not in this report.
What I can tell you very clearly is this: the 34 out of every 100 refers to other families, not yours. At Skidmore, some students make it through the year without borrowing a cent, and some do borrow. This percentage does not determine which of the two groups your child will fall into. The financial aid letter your child receives in writing before committing does.
Skidmore also reports two formal payment mechanisms: a prepaid tuition plan and an installment tuition payment plan. It is worth asking about both if a single lump-sum payment is not realistic for your family.
What life is like there
Skidmore does have its own housing. It does not require all first-time, full-time students to live there, although that does not mean no particular program or year has such a requirement: you have to ask. The reported maximum capacity of institution-controlled housing is 2,213 students. It also offers meal plans, with a fixed number of meals per week in its largest plan. Before removing room and board from the family budget, ask for this year’s exact rate, the housing application deadline, and whether you are guaranteed a place or placed on a waiting list.
Regarding ROTC: Skidmore did not indicate any ROTC opportunity in its official report—neither the general box nor any branch. Among the four-year institutions in this guide, 926 out of 1,786 did indicate one; Skidmore is not among them. This describes what was reported, not necessarily everything that exists. If your child’s plan depends on an ROTC scholarship, ask admissions directly before ruling out the school based on this fact.
Skidmore does compete in intercollegiate athletics and is affiliated with the NCAA—not with other associations. It specifically reports NCAA or NAIA membership for basketball and baseball. Membership belongs to the institution and is not a promise to your child: if the sport matters, write directly to the coach and ask whether there is room on the team, which division that sport competes in, and whether it offers scholarships.
There is no distance education at Skidmore—not a single course, at either the undergraduate or graduate level—and 0 out of every 100 students took all their classes online. If your child needs flexibility because of work or caring for someone at home, the schedule here has to fit entirely in person.
The library operates with paid staff and annual spending above the threshold the government requires to consider it “full” in its reports. It has physical and digital materials and participates in interlibrary lending. That is a baseline, not a guarantee that it has the specific databases your child’s major requires—you ask about that by the name of the major.
Finally, Skidmore reports a package of support services: combined academic and career counseling, employment services for current students, placement services for those who complete their programs, participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program, and a published address for services for people with disabilities. The fact that these services are reported says nothing about their quality or actual effectiveness; that also has to be asked directly.
What happens to those who enroll
This is where the numbers begin to tell a story spanning several years.
Of the cohort that entered in the fall of 2022—780 first-time, full-time, bachelor’s-degree-seeking students—693 were still enrolled or had already graduated one year later: 89 out of every 100. That is a high share compared with its 930 selective private peers—Skidmore ranks toward the top of that group. But this number combines two different outcomes—remaining enrolled and having already graduated—without separating them, and it does not say what happened to the remaining 11 out of every 100.
Regarding graduation: of the 660 students who entered in 2017 as full-time bachelor’s-degree-seeking students, 539 had earned the degree six years later. That is 82 out of every 100. At four years, the figure was already 75 out of every 100—just seven points below the final six-year result, suggesting that most of those who graduate do so near the expected time. Compared with its 920 selective private peers, Skidmore is in the top quarter: three out of four schools in that group, or more, had an equal or lower share of graduates.
I want to say this with complete honesty: 82 out of every 100 is a high number, and it probably reflects something real about how this school supports its students. But it is not a promise to your child. It is what happened to the cohort that entered in 2017. What is in your hands, as a parent, is making sure your child enters with credits in order and knows, from the first semester, who the academic advisor is and when registration opens for courses in the major.
One final, longer-term fact: IPEDS tracked a cohort of 716 students who entered between July 2015 and June 2016 for eight years. As of August 2023, 84 out of every 100 had earned a degree or certificate from Skidmore. Among Pell Grant recipients, the figure was even higher: 96 out of every 100, thirteen points above those who did not receive one. Compared with 935 selective private peers, Skidmore is among those that graduate the most people within eight years.
This fact also does not predict your child’s outcome. It describes a cohort that entered more than a decade ago. What is useful here is the question it opens: it is worth asking directly about the current support available in the program your child is interested in and about outcomes for more recent cohorts than those reported by this federal census.
What this article cannot tell you
This article cannot tell you what happens after someone graduates from Skidmore—what jobs that person gets, how much that person earns, or whether that debt is easy or difficult to repay. That information requires another source, and it is not authorized here. Nor can it tell you whether Skidmore is the right college for your child. That depends on three things this article does not know: what your child wants to study and has built, what your family can and is willing to pay, and how those two elements fit with everything you have just read about this particular school.
You now have an in-depth understanding of one of those three pieces.
It is up to your child to decide whether this school speaks to what your child wants to study and the life your child imagines living there. It is up to you to deal with the number that will appear in that financial aid letter, the essay deadline, and the honest conversation about what your family can pay. Neither of those two parts belongs to the other. Bring them together, and from that combination—what the college really is, what your child wants, and what your family can do—a real plan begins to emerge.
Source note: the information in this article comes from IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) and Skidmore College reports to the United States Department of Education, with data primarily from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 cycles. Best College Aid does not represent Skidmore College or the United States government; this article organizes public information to help you understand it.