College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
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Howard University Data & Information Overview

79 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
35% Acceptance Rate
Get the facts about Howard University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is Howard University Ranked?

#794 Best Colleges in Nation
#6 Best Colleges in DC
Other Communication, Journalism, & Related Programs 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.

Howard University was awarded 79 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is other communication, journalism, & related programs.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, Howard is ranked #794 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

Howard also holds the #6 spot on the Best Colleges in District of Columbia ranking.

See all of the rankings for Howard University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Howard?

35% Acceptance Rate
72% Of Accepted Are Women
26% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Howard University has an acceptance rate of 35%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for Howard.

Average Test Scores

About 26% of students accepted to Howard submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 550 and 650. Math scores were between 530 and 640.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Howard University  ( 550 to 650 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Howard University  ( 530 to 640 )
200
800
Howard received ACT scores from 10% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 21 and 26.

ACT Composite Scores for Howard University  ( 21 to 26 )
1
36

Learn more about Howard University admissions.

Howard University Faculty

13 to 1 Student to Faculty
77% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Howard University is about average at 13 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.

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 Howard University is 77%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  77 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Howard University

91% Freshmen Retention
52% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 91% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Howard University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  91 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Howard the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 52%. That is great when compared to 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 Howard University.

Howard University Undergraduate Student Diversity

7,497 Full-Time Undergraduates
83.2% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
72.2% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 7,857 undergraduates at Howard with 7,497 being full-time and 360 being part-time.

How Much Does Howard University Cost?

$41,388 Net Price
48% Take Out Loans
$22,512 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Howard is $41,388. 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 Howard

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$39,395 $40,938 $43,093 $44,529 $45,955

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 Howard, 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 Howard, approximately 48% of students took out student loans averaging $5,628 a year. That adds up to $22,512 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Howard is 6.0%. 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 Howard University.

How Much Money Do Howard Graduates Make?

$56,236 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Howard with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $56,236 in their early years. This is good news for future Howard graduates since it is 32% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Howard University make the most money.

Location of Howard University

District of Columbia State
7,497 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Howard University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. Washington is a great location for students who prefer city over country life.

Get more details about the location of Howard University.

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Contact details for Howard are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 2400 Sixth St Nw, Washington, DC 20059
Phone: 202-806-6100
Website: www.howard.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/howarduniversity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HowardU

Howard University Majors

70 Majors With Completions
1,391 Undergraduate Degrees
792 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 70 majors graduated from Howard University. Of these students, 1,391 received undergraduate degrees and 792 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
General Biology 200 $24,174
Political Science & Government 117 $31,844
Public Relations & Advertising 115 $34,119
Health & Physical Education 79 $32,089
Communication & Journalism (Other) 73 $27,756
Marketing 65 $47,058
Computer Science 64 NA
Management Information Systems 44 $74,153
Nursing 41 $67,642
Arts & Media Management 35 $15,855

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

Online Learning at Howard

82% Take At Least One Class Online
2% 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, 9,904 students took at least one online class at Howard University. This is an increase from the 3,565 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 9,904 185
2019-2020 3,565 109
2018-2019 1,069 22
2017-2018 1,059 29
2016-2017 698 21

Learn more about online learning at Howard University.

If you’re considering Howard University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Howard? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

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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