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Buena Vista University Data & Information Overview

46 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
66% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about Buena Vista University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
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How Well Is Buena Vista University Ranked?

#842 Best Colleges in Nation
#19 Best Colleges in IA
Special Education Highest Ranked Major

2024 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Buena Vista University was awarded 46 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is special education.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

College Factual ranked BVU as #842 out of 2,217 colleges and universities in the country on its 2024 Best Colleges list.

BVU also holds the #19 spot on the Best Colleges in Iowa ranking.

See all of the rankings for Buena Vista University.

Is It Hard to Get Into BVU?

66% Acceptance Rate
44% Of Accepted Are Women
8% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

If you're applying to Buena Vista University you'll face some tough competition, since the school's acceptance rate is only 66%. Definitely don't wait until the last minute to submit your application, since applying early may be in your favor.

Average Test Scores

About 8% of students accepted to BVU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 480 and 583. Math scores were between 483 and 557.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Buena Vista University  ( 480 to 583 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Buena Vista University  ( 483 to 557 )
200
800
BVU received ACT scores from 57% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 18 and 25.

ACT Composite Scores for Buena Vista University  ( 18 to 25 )
1
36

Learn more about Buena Vista University admissions.

Buena Vista University Faculty

11 to 1 Student to Faculty
22% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to measure the number of teaching resources that a college or university offers its students. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1, but at BVU it is much better at 11 to 1. That's good news for students who want to interact more on a personal level with their teachers.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Buena Vista University is 22%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  22 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Buena Vista University

73% Freshmen Retention
52% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Buena Vista University has a freshmen retention rate of 73%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  73 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at BVU for first-time, full-time students is 52%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  52 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Buena Vista University.

Buena Vista University Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,230 Full-Time Undergraduates
19.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
61.8% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 1,456 undergraduates at BVU with 1,230 being full-time and 226 being part-time.

How Much Does Buena Vista University Cost?

$18,054 Net Price
73% Take Out Loans
$31,448 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of BVU is $18,054. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for BVU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$13,483 $14,348 $15,581 $18,909 $25,217

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of BVU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At BVU, approximately 73% of students took out student loans averaging $7,862 a year. That adds up to $31,448 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at BVU is 4.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Buena Vista University.

How Much Money Do BVU Graduates Make?

$44,699 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from BVU make around $44,699 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future BVU graduates since it is 5% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Buena Vista University make the most money.

Location of Buena Vista University

Iowa State
1,230 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Buena Vista University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Storm Lake, Iowa. Storm Lake is a good match for students who enjoy small-town life.

Get more details about the location of Buena Vista University.

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Contact details for BVU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 610 W 4Th St, Storm Lake, IA 50588
Phone: 712-749-2400
Website: https://www.bvu.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/buenavistauniversity
Twitter: http://twitter.com/buenavistauniv

Buena Vista University Majors

50 Majors With Completions
393 Undergraduate Degrees
165 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 50 majors graduated from Buena Vista University. Of these students, 393 received undergraduate degrees and 165 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 72 $37,262
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 54 $32,246
Business Administration & Management 41 $39,042
General Psychology 32 $29,420
Teacher Education Subject Specific 25 $38,301
Criminal Justice & Corrections 24 $38,989
Accounting 23 $44,901
General Business/Commerce 16 NA
Marketing 13 $38,530
Health & Physical Education 12 $30,756

Learn more about the majors offered at Buena Vista University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at BVU

59% Take At Least One Class Online
52% Take All Classes Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2020-2021, 1,158 students took at least one online class at Buena Vista University. This is an increase from the 1,151 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 1,158 1,025
2019-2020 1,151 1,003
2018-2019 997 893
2017-2018 987 902
2016-2017 1,058 876

Learn more about online learning at Buena Vista University.

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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