by our College Data Analytics TeamIf you want to know more about Columbia Southern University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
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.
Columbia Southern University was awarded 408 badges in the 2026 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, Columbia Southern University is ranked #1,018 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, Columbia Southern University holds the #7 spot on the Best Colleges in Alabama ranking.
At Columbia Southern University, the student to faculty ratio is 37 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.
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 Columbia Southern University is 41%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate is a sign of how many full-time students like a college or university well enough to come back for their sophomore year. At Columbia Southern University this rate is 59%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor’s degree within four years. At Columbia Southern University this rate is 37%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Columbia Southern University.
The current enrollment includes 13,053 undergraduates at Columbia Southern University.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Columbia Southern University.
The typical net cost at Columbia Southern University is $16,772. 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 Columbia Southern University$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K + $13,772 $15,391 $14,413 $16,317 $17,878
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 Columbia Southern University, 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 Columbia Southern University, approximately 26% of students took out student loans averaging $6,738 a year. That adds up to $26,952 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 4.6%. 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 Columbia Southern University.
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Columbia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $63,534 in their early years. This is good news for future Columbia Southern University graduates since it is 29% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Columbia Southern University make the most money.
Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit institution found in Orange Beach, Alabama. Orange Beach is a great place for students who enjoy small town life. Get more details about the location of Columbia Southern University.
Get in touch with Columbia Southern University are given below.Contact Details Address: 21982 University Lane, Orange Beach, AL 36561-9000 Phone: 25198137711278 Website: www.columbiasouthern.edu Facebook: www.facebook.com/Columbia.Southern Twitter: twitter.com/CSUedu
In the most recent reporting year, students from 10 majors graduated from Columbia Southern University. 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 7,773 NA Business Administration & Management 2,191 $54,798 Quality Control Technology 1,766 $72,756 Fire Protection 1,587 $68,637 Criminal Justice & Corrections 499 $51,656 Homeland Security 292 $75,707 Allied Health Professions 245 NA Health/Medical Admin Services 200 $42,132 Human Resource Management 171 $48,176 Public Administration 160 $57,300
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.
12,213 students took at least one online class at Columbia Southern University.
Learn more about online learning at Columbia Southern University.
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.