by our College Data Analytics TeamCollege 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.
Northwestern State University of Louisiana was awarded 2 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is education.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
College Factual ranked NSU as #1,683 out of 2,152 colleges and universities in the country on its 2025 Best Colleges list.
NSU also holds the #14 spot on the Best Colleges in Louisiana ranking.
See all of the rankings for Northwestern State University of Louisiana.
Northwestern State University of Louisiana has an acceptance rate of 98%, so it is easier to gain admission to this school than some others. Still, the admissions staff will examine your application closely to make sure you're a good fit for NSU.
About 3% of students accepted to NSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 565. Math scores were between 485 and 570.
Learn more about Northwestern State University of Louisiana admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Northwestern State University of Louisiana is about average at 17 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.
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 Northwestern State University of Louisiana is 61%. This is higher 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 Northwestern State University of Louisiana this rate is 61%, 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 with four years. At NSU this rate is 31%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 10,321 undergraduates at NSU with 6,163 being full-time and 4,158 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $14,364 | $14,415 | $16,754 | $18,215 | $18,112 |
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 NSU, 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 NSU, approximately 57% of students took out student loans averaging $6,068 a year. That adds up to $24,272 over four years for those students.
Get more details about paying for Northwestern State University of Louisiana.
See which majors at Northwestern State University of Louisiana make the most money.
Get more details about the location of Northwestern State University of Louisiana.
Contact details for NSU are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 175 Sam Sibley Drive, Natchitoches, LA 71497-0002 |
| Phone: | 318-357-6011 |
| Website: | https://www.nsula.edu/ |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing | 527 | $74,935 |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 397 | $32,688 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 133 | $46,908 |
| Business Administration & Management | 126 | $37,020 |
| General Psychology | 115 | $32,765 |
| Allied Health Professions | 105 | $58,627 |
| General Biology | 70 | $25,078 |
| Accounting | 69 | $48,895 |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 58 | $30,559 |
| Human Development & Family Studies | 55 | $27,373 |
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 2022-2023, 8,311 students took at least one online class at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. This is a decrease from the 9,463 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 8,311 | 5,349 |
| 2021-2022 | 9,463 | 5,928 |
| 2020-2021 | 10,430 | 5,725 |
| 2018-2019 | 9,019 | 4,667 |
Learn more about online learning at Northwestern State University of Louisiana.
If you’re considering Northwestern State University of Louisiana, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
Curious on how these schools stack up against NSU? 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!
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.