MA
Bentley University
2.44 incidents / 1,000 students
Waltham, MA · Clery Act 2024 · Private Nonprofit
Bentley University
Across 2022–2024, Bentley University reported 31 incidents in the Clery Criminal Offenses section, and the yearly count fell over that span (largest filed category: Rape). Nearby same-state same-level comparison: Emerson College.
- 2.44
- Incidents / 1k students
- #1,164
- Rank of 2,072
- #49
- MA rank
- 5,333
- Enrolled students
2.44 reported score-category incidents per 1,000 students
Bentley University reports 2.44 2024 score-category incidents per 1,000 - 58% below SUNY Oneonta. Similar-enrollment scored peers: SUNY Oneonta (6.56/1k); Delaware State University (18.58/1k); SUNY Broome Community College (0.19/1k); Midwestern State University (3.76/1k); William Carey University (0.19/1k). Same-state same-level set also includes Emerson College (1.71/1k); Brandeis University (2.31/1k); Worcester State University (1.91/1k); Merrimack College (1.88/1k); Fitchburg State University (1.87/1k); MCPHS University (0.17/1k); Simmons University (3.64/1k); Westfield State University (0.87/1k). Largest Criminal Offenses total across filed years: Rape.
Data source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey
- incidents / 1,000 students
- 2.44
- of 2,072 ranked nationally
- #1,164
- report fewer incidents than this campus
- 56%
- Criminal Offenses, 2024
- 9
Source: U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey
Data updated August 2026
Clery Act plate
Sheet 164739 · Bentley University 2.44/1k score rate · #1,164/2,072
RATE-MID · RANK-LOWER · ST-MID · BELOW-PEER · ZERO-NONE · TREND-DOWN · CAT-LEAD · ENR-MID · FIRE-REPORT
- RATE-MID 2.44/1k
- RANK-LOWER #1,164/2,072
- ST-MID #49 in state
- BELOW-PEER Midwestern State University · 1.32 back
- ZERO-NONE Scored
- TREND-DOWN ↓ 40%
- CAT-LEAD Rape
- ENR-MID 5,333
- FIRE-REPORT 3 fires
Nearest enrollment peer: Midwestern State University (+1.32/1k)
Bentley University sheet RATE-MID · RANK-LOWER · ST-MID · BELOW-PEER · ZERO-NONE · TREND-DOWN · CAT-LEAD · ENR-MID · FIRE-REPORT · peer Midwestern State University. Codes from this campus OPE filing: score-category rate, national/state rank, named enrollment peer, zero posture, Criminal Offenses trend, lead category, enrollment band, fire filing. Not a moving recommendation.
Clery plate RATE-MID · RANK-LOWER · ST-MID · BELOW-PEER · ZERO-NONE · TREND-DOWN · CAT-LEAD · ENR-MID · FIRE-REPORT. Nearest similar-enrollment peer is Midwestern State University (+1.32/1k). National rank #1,164 of 2,072 scored campuses. Instrument codes from this campus OPE sheet; compare similarly sized peers before treating any single rate as decisive.
Bentley University reports 2.44 2024 score-category incidents per 1,000 - 58% below SUNY Oneonta. Similar-enrollment scored peers: SUNY Oneonta (6.56/1k); Delaware State University (18.58/1k); SUNY Broome Community College (0.19/1k); Midwestern State University (3.76/1k); William Carey University (0.19/1k). Same-state same-level set also includes Emerson College (1.71/1k); Brandeis University (2.31/1k); Worcester State University (1.91/1k); Merrimack College (1.88/1k); Fitchburg State University (1.87/1k); MCPHS University (0.17/1k); Simmons University (3.64/1k); Westfield State University (0.87/1k). Largest Criminal Offenses total across filed years: Rape.
Peer-rate neighbourhood around Bentley University
Lowest/highest enrollment peers plus campuses nearest Bentley on score-category rate. Full ladder: /rankings/safest-campuses.
- SUNY Broome Community College · lowest peer 0.19
SUNY Broome Community College — lowest peer
0.19 per 1,000 students
- William Carey University · near 0.19
William Carey University — near
0.19 per 1,000 students
- Bentley University · this campus 2.44
Bentley University — this campus
2.44 per 1,000 students
- Midwestern State University · near 3.76
Midwestern State University — near
3.76 per 1,000 students
- Delaware State University · highest peer
Delaware State University — highest peer
18.58 per 1,000 students
What this shows Neighbourhood of similar-enrollment peers around Bentley University's 2.44/1k rate, not a full-corpus distribution reprint.
Reporting-period change
What changed in 2024
Bentley University increased from 7 to 9 reported on-campus incidents between the 2023 and 2024 reporting years in the U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey.
This is a change in reported incidents, not a measure of individual safety. Enrollment, reporting practice, and category coverage can affect the count.
See national reporting-year changesSignature insight · size does not equal danger
Campus size vs reported safety rate
Among 37 MA 4-year peers in this comparison, Bentley University is larger than 75% and safer-reporting than 53% - the larger, safer-reporting quadrant. Axes are within-sample percentiles so outliers share the same frame; a higher safety percentile means a lower Clery incidents-per-1,000 rate.
Read the chart as text
- Point 1: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 72, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 78
- Point 2: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 69, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 58
- Point 3: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 78, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 67
- Point 4: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 81, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 69
- Point 5: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 83, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 72
- Point 6: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 86, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 97
- Point 7: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 67, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 39
- Point 8: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 64, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 92
- Point 9: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 89, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 25
- Point 10: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 61, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 42
- Point 11: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 92, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 12: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 58, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 3
- Point 13: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 56, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 61
- Point 14: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 53, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 0
- Point 15: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 50, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 36
- Point 16: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 47, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 86
- Point 17: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 44, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 14
- Point 18: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 94, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 56
- Point 19: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 42, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 89
- Point 20: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 39, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 22
- Point 21: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 97, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 81
- Point 22: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 36, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 17
- Point 23: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 33, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 100
- Point 24: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 31, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 8
- Point 25: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 28, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 64
- Point 26: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 25, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 94
- Point 27: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 22, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 50
- Point 28: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 100, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 31
- Point 29: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 19, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 75
- Point 30: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 17, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 6
- Point 31: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 11, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 19
- Point 32: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 11, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 11
- Point 33: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 8, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 33
- Point 34: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 6, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 28
- Point 35: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 3, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 44
- Point 36: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 0, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 47
- Bentley University: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 75, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 53
Read the chart as a table
| Campus | Enrollment | Rate / 1k | Size pct | Safety pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmanuel College | 1,983 | 2.52 | 0 | 47 |
| Massachusetts College of Art and Design | 1,989 | 3.02 | 3 | 44 |
| Curry College | 1,994 | 4.51 | 6 | 28 |
| Hult International Business School | 2,008 | 3.98 | 8 | 33 |
| American International College | 2,037 | 5.89 | 11 | 19 |
| Assumption University | 2,037 | 6.87 | 11 | 11 |
| Williams College | 2,164 | 9.24 | 17 | 6 |
| Mount Holyoke College | 2,275 | 1.76 | 19 | 75 |
| Wellesley College | 2,407 | 2.49 | 22 | 50 |
| Regis College | 2,517 | 0.40 | 25 | 94 |
| Lesley University | 2,557 | 1.96 | 28 | 64 |
| Bentley University (this campus) | 5,333 | 2.44 | 75 | 53 |
Sample of 12 campuses from the plot (sorted by enrollment). Source: U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey + IPEDS enrollment. Rate = on-campus Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 students; lower is safer-reporting, not a personal-risk forecast.
What changed between 2023 and 2024
Reported on-campus incidents at Bentley University rose from 7 to 9 (+29%). The increase shows up in Rape (3 to 8). Falling over the same period: Burglary (1 to 0), Fondling (2 to 1) and Statutory Rape (1 to 0).
This describes reported incidents, not crime. Clery counts move with reporting policy, awareness campaigns and how a campus staffs its security authorities, so a rise can reflect better capture of reports and a fall can reflect worse capture. One year of movement at a single campus is not a trend.
What actually gets reported at Bentley University
Across 3 reporting years, on-campus incidents were recorded in 7 Clery Act categories here: Rape, Fondling, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Arson, Motor Vehicle Theft and Statutory Rape. Rape accounts for most of them.
The remaining 4 categories were reported with no on-campus incidents, Incest, Murder / Non-Negligent Manslaughter, Negligent Manslaughter and Robbery. Under the Clery Act that zero is an affirmative report that nothing in the category occurred, not an absence of data, which is why the table below lists those rows rather than dropping them.
Counts describe incidents reported under the Clery Act for the on-campus geography. Reporting practice varies between institutions, so counts are not a direct measure of relative safety.
Crime Statistics by Year
11 categories 3 reporting years on-campus onlyBentley University: Criminal Offenses by year
Declining 40% (15 → 9 incidents)
Read the chart as text
| Period | On-campus incidents |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 15 |
| 2023 | 7 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| Crime Type | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rape | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| Fondling | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Aggravated Assault | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Burglary | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Arson | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Statutory Rape | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Incest | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Murder / Non-Negligent Manslaughter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Negligent Manslaughter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: US Dept of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey. Table figures show the Criminal Offenses section; other Clery tables are separate
Fire Safety
| Year | Fires | Inj. | Deaths | Cat I | Cat II |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Arrests & Disciplinary Actions
9 category-year records| Category | Year | Arrests | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drugs | 2024 | 0 | 49 |
| Liquor | 2024 | 0 | 131 |
| Weapons | 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Drugs | 2023 | 0 | 45 |
| Liquor | 2023 | 0 | 104 |
| Weapons | 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Drugs | 2022 | 0 | 45 |
| Liquor | 2022 | 1 | 147 |
| Weapons | 2022 | 0 | 5 |
Bentley University vs peer institutions
Side-by-side safety scores for 3 peers of similar enrollment
Scores are $2024 Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 enrolled students (lower is fewer in those categories).
NY
SUNY Oneonta
6.56 incidents / 1,000 students
DE
Delaware State University
18.58 incidents / 1,000 students
Cost context
Where Bentley University sits on price and outcomes
At $37,930, Bentley University's reported average net price is cheaper than 87% among 117 Massachusetts colleges with a reported figure. The state median is $24,402.
- $37,930
- average net price
- $24,402
- Massachusetts median
- 3.5×
- six-year earnings to median debt
- $27,994
- reported income-bracket spread
Aid here is steeply income-scaled. Families reporting under $30,000 of income record a net price of $21,196, while those above $110,000 record $49,190 - roughly 2.3 times as much. A published average of $37,930 therefore describes very few families well; the bracket nearest your own income is the more useful figure.
Six-year median earnings of $86,679 run about 2.3 times the annual net price. The margin is real but narrow, so how many years of price a student actually pays matters a great deal here.
Average net price reflects grant and scholarship aid for aided students, not a personal offer. Earnings cover former students who received federal aid; neither measure predicts an individual's outcome.
Academic & Financial Profile
Tuition & Costs
- In-State Tuition
- $61,000
- Out-of-State Tuition
- $61,000
- Avg Net Price
- $37,930
- Median Debt
- $25,023
- Pell Grant Recipients
- 16%
Admissions
- Acceptance Rate
- 45%
- SAT Average
- 1352
- SAT Math Range
- 650-730
- ACT Average
- 30
- ACT Range
- 28-31
Outcomes
- 4-Year Graduation Rate
- 88%
- Retention Rate
- 93%
- Median Earnings (6yr)
- $86,679
- Median Earnings (10yr)
- $120,959
- Loan Repayment (3yr)
- 95%
Source: IPEDS & College Scorecard. Methodology.
Similar Institutions
Showing 5 of 1,070 similar institutions by enrollment size.
SUNY Oneonta
Oneonta, NY · 5,337 enrolled
Safety Score 6.56
Delaware State University
Dover, DE · 5,327 enrolled
Safety Score 18.58
SUNY Broome Community College
Binghamton, NY · 5,327 enrolled
Safety Score 0.19
Midwestern State University
Wichita Falls, TX · 5,324 enrolled
Safety Score 3.76
William Carey University
Hattiesburg, MS · 5,321 enrolled
Safety Score 0.19
Closest by National Rank
Bentley University (national rank #1164) sits near Anderson University (#1165) and Waynesburg University (#1163) on the scored national list, nearest by rank, not by size or state.
Nationwide campuses with similar scale or Clery rate
Two Clery-derived peer sets for Bentley University, both outside MA so the neighborhoods are not state containment (Similar Institutions and national-rank neighbors above stay enrollment- or rank-based).
Similar enrollment (nationwide)
SUNY Oneonta
Oneonta, NY · 5,337 enrolled
Safety score 6.56
Delaware State University
Dover, DE · 5,327 enrolled
Safety score 18.58
Midwestern State University
Wichita Falls, TX · 5,324 enrolled
Safety score 3.76
William Carey University
Hattiesburg, MS · 5,321 enrolled
Safety score 0.19
Pratt Institute-Main
Brooklyn, NY · 5,356 enrolled
Safety score 2.80
Oregon Institute of Technology
Klamath Falls, OR · 5,299 enrolled
Safety score 0.57
Wilkes University
Wilkes-Barre, PA · 5,381 enrolled
Safety score 2.04
Georgia Highlands College
Rome, GA · 5,382 enrolled
Safety score 0.19
Similar 2024 Clery rate (nationwide)
Waynesburg University
Waynesburg, PA · 1,231 enrolled
Safety score 2.44
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA · 35,724 enrolled
Safety score 2.44
Anderson University
Anderson, IN · 1,228 enrolled
Safety score 2.44
Morningside University
Sioux City, IA · 2,056 enrolled
Safety score 2.43
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC · 11,926 enrolled
Safety score 2.43
Barton College
Wilson, NC · 1,235 enrolled
Safety score 2.43
Lee University
Cleveland, TN · 3,714 enrolled
Safety score 2.42
Champlain College
Burlington, VT · 3,259 enrolled
Safety score 2.45
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bentley University safe?
Bentley University has a safety score of 2.44 (2024 on-campus Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 enrolled students) and ranks #1,164 nationally out of 2,072 ranked institutions - nearest similar-enrollment comparison: SUNY Oneonta (6.56/1k). Same-state same-level set: Emerson College (1.71/1k); Brandeis University (2.31/1k); Worcester State University (1.91/1k); Merrimack College (1.88/1k); Fitchburg State University (1.87/1k); MCPHS University (0.17/1k); Simmons University (3.64/1k); Westfield State University (0.87/1k).
What crimes are reported at Bentley University?
For calendar year 2024, Bentley University reported Rape (8) and Fondling (1) in the Criminal Offenses section. Every other category in that section was reported at zero; other Clery tables are separate.
How does Bentley University compare to similar schools?
Bentley University reports 58% fewer 2024 score-category incidents per 1,000 than SUNY Oneonta. Scored similar-enrollment peers on this page: SUNY Oneonta (6.56/1k); Delaware State University (18.58/1k); SUNY Broome Community College (0.19/1k); Midwestern State University (3.76/1k); William Carey University (0.19/1k). Same-state same-level set: Emerson College (1.71/1k); Brandeis University (2.31/1k); Worcester State University (1.91/1k); Merrimack College (1.88/1k); Fitchburg State University (1.87/1k); MCPHS University (0.17/1k); Simmons University (3.64/1k); Westfield State University (0.87/1k).
Does Bentley University have fire safety data?
Yes. Bentley University reports fire safety data for on-campus residential facilities, including total fires, injuries, deaths, and fire damage categories. 3 fires were reported in the most recent year.
Every figure on PlainCampus is rendered directly from federal Clery Act source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal Clery Act source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice; the data describes reported on-campus activity, it is not a complete picture of safety at any campus and cannot predict any individual student's experience. See our appropriate use guidance.
PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice.