by our College Data Analytics TeamThe Catholic University of America is a private not-for-profit institution in Washington, District of Columbia enrolling 3,154 undergraduates. It accepts 83% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 79%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #375 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 7%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
The Catholic University of America ranks #375 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 7%.
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
The Catholic University of America was awarded 35 badges in the 2027 rankings.
College Factual ranked CUA as #375 out of 5,159 colleges and universities in the country on its 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.
CUA is also ranked #5 on the Best Colleges in District of Columbia list.
See all of the rankings for The Catholic University of America.
The Catholic University of America has an acceptance rate of 83%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
Learn more about The Catholic University of America admissions.
At CUA, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 11 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.
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 The Catholic University of America is 53%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The Catholic University of America has a freshmen retention rate of 87%. 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.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At CUA the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 79%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at The Catholic University of America.
In the current academic year, there are 3,154 undergraduates at CUA.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at The Catholic University of America.
The overall average net price of CUA is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $17,358 | $17,895 | $24,723 | $28,295 | $37,651 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of CUA, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
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 CUA, approximately 48% of students took out student loans averaging $6,357 a year. That adds up to $25,428 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 1.8%. 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 The Catholic University of America.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from The Catholic University of America make about $73,250 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future The Catholic University of America graduates since it is 49% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at The Catholic University of America make the most money.
The Catholic University of America is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life. Get more details about the location of The Catholic University of America.
Contact information for The Catholic University of America are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 620 Michigan Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20064 |
| Phone: | 2023195000 |
| Website: | www.catholic.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/CatholicUniversity |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/CatholicUniv |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 26 majors graduated from The Catholic University of America. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 1,348 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 171 | $57,624 |
| Nursing | 119 | $75,085 |
| Law | 112 | $62,128 |
| Social Work | 77 | NA |
| Architectural Sciences | 73 | NA |
| Other Theology & Religion | 63 | $68,035 |
| Political Science & Government | 59 | $41,721 |
| General Psychology | 53 | $29,308 |
| Philosophy | 49 | NA |
485 students took at least one online class at The Catholic University of America.
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.
Learn more about online learning at The Catholic University of America.
Want to see how other colleges compare to CUA? Pit them head to head with College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
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.
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