by our College Data Analytics TeamPennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona is a public institution in Altoona, Pennsylvania enrolling 2,367 undergraduates. It accepts 98% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 16%, below the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,378 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 27%), 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.
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona ranks #1,378 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 27%.
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.
College Factual ranked Penn State Altoona as #1,378 out of 5,159 colleges and universities in the country on its 2027 Best Colleges list.
Within the state, Penn State Altoona holds the #91 spot on the Best Colleges in Pennsylvania ranking.
See all of the rankings for Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona 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 Penn State Altoona.
About 24% of students accepted to Penn State Altoona submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 530 and 650. Math scores were between 540 and 640.
Penn State Altoona received ACT scores from 3% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 22 and 28.
Learn more about Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona admissions.
With a student to faculty ratio of 13 to 1, Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona 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.
In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona is 77%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona has a freshmen retention rate of 80%. 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.
When we say that a student has graduated on time, we mean that they have finished their bachelor’s degree within four years. The on-time graduation rate at Penn State Altoona is 16%. That’s lower than the national rate of 33.3%.
During the most recent academic year, there were 2,367 undergraduates at Penn State Altoona.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
The typical net cost at Penn State Altoona 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $16,017 | $16,546 | $19,464 | $23,562 | $28,263 |
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 Penn State Altoona, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Penn State Altoona, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $6,127 a year. That adds up to $24,508 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 6.4%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Pennsylvania State U-Penn State Altoona make around $63,435 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Pennsylvania State U-Penn State Altoona graduates since it is 29% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona make the most money.
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona is an public institution situated in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Altoona is a great location for students who prefer city over country life. Get more details about the location of Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
Contact information for Pennsylvania State U-Penn State Altoona are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 3000 Ivyside Park, Altoona, PA 16601-3777 |
| Phone: | 8149495000 |
| Website: | altoona.psu.edu/ |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State_Altoona |
| Facebook: | www.altoona.psu.edu/now/facebook.php |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/PSAltoona |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 19 majors graduated from Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona. 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 | 340 | NA |
| Nursing | 84 | $67,759 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 41 | $39,223 |
| Business & Commerce | 37 | $42,339 |
| Electromechanical Engineering | 26 | NA |
| Information Technology | 20 | $65,214 |
| Accounting | 16 | $51,228 |
| Health & Physical Education | 16 | $30,320 |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 16 | $34,135 |
| Child Development & Family Studies | 13 | $29,005 |
335 students took at least one online class at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
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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.