by our College Data Analytics TeamThis overview covers the essential stats on Missouri Southern State University, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Missouri Southern State University was awarded 30 badges in the 2026 rankings.
College Factual ranked Missouri Southern as #1,656 out of 3,449 colleges and universities in the country on its 2026 Best Colleges list.
Missouri Southern also holds the #38 spot on the Best Colleges in Missouri ranking.
See all of the rankings for Missouri Southern State University.
With an acceptance rate of 97%, Missouri Southern State University is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.
About 4% of students accepted to Missouri Southern submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 690. Math scores were between 610 and 730.
Missouri Southern received ACT scores from 71% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 17 and 24.
Learn more about Missouri Southern State University admissions.
With a student to faculty ratio of 15 to 1, Missouri Southern State University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Missouri Southern State University is 54%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Missouri Southern State University is 70%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Missouri Southern the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 38%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Missouri Southern State University.
In the current academic year, there are 3,101 undergraduates at Missouri Southern.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Missouri Southern State University.
The typical net cost at Missouri Southern 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 Missouri Southern
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9,021 | $10,467 | $12,646 | $15,035 | $15,196 |
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 Missouri Southern, 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 Missouri Southern, approximately 33% of students took out student loans averaging $6,075 a year. That adds up to $24,300 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 13.9%. This is higher than the national default rate of 10.1% so you should proceed with caution when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Missouri Southern State University.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Missouri Southern State University make about $42,620 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is about 13% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
See which majors at Missouri Southern State University make the most money.
Missouri Southern State University is an public institution located in Joplin, Missouri. Joplin is a great location for students who prefer city over country life. Get more details about the location of Missouri Southern State University.
Get in touch with Missouri Southern State University can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 3950 E. Newman Road, Joplin, MO 64801-1595 |
| Phone: | 8668186778 |
| Website: | www.mssu.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/mssulions?ref=ts |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/mosolions |
In the latest year of available data, students from 24 majors graduated from Missouri Southern State 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 | 1,104 | NA |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 187 | $31,903 |
| Business & Commerce | 156 | $38,297 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 93 | $30,300 |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 85 | $29,462 |
| Allied Health Professions | 43 | NA |
| General Biology | 40 | $26,859 |
| Health Sciences & Services | 34 | NA |
| Health & Physical Education | 29 | $31,440 |
| Computer Programming | 26 | NA |
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.
2,419 students took at least one online class at Missouri Southern State University.
Learn more about online learning at Missouri Southern State 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.