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Philander Smith University Data & Information Overview

Fair Price Value for Your Money
14% Student Loan Default Rate

This overview covers the essential stats on Philander Smith University, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.

Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

* Rankings

How Well Is Philander Smith University Ranked?

#41 Best Colleges in AR

2026 College Rankings

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.

Overall Quality

PSU was not ranked in College Factual’s Best Overall Colleges report this year. This may be because not enough data was available.

See all of the rankings for Philander Smith University.

How Difficult Is Admission to Philander Smith University?

Getting Accepted

Learn more about Philander Smith University admissions.

Instructors at Philander Smith University

11 to 1 Student to Faculty
100% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

At PSU, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 11 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

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 Philander Smith University is 100%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  100 out of 100
0
100

Student Success Metrics for Philander Smith University

67% Freshmen Retention
32% On-Time Graduation Rate

First-Year Student Retention

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 Philander Smith University is 67%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  67 out of 100
0
100

Time to Degree

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor’s degree within four years. At PSU this rate is 32%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  32 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Philander Smith University.

Undergraduate Diversity at Philander Smith University

842 Undergraduate Students
83.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
51.8% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 842 undergraduates at PSU.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Philander Smith University.

What Does Philander Smith University Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
58% Take Out Loans
$29,248 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of PSU is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. 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 PSU, 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 PSU, approximately 58% of students took out student loans averaging $7,312 a year. That adds up to $29,248 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 14.1%. 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 Philander Smith University.

Post-Graduation Earnings for Philander Smith University

$38,427 Avg Salary of Grads
Low Earnings Boost

Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Philander Smith University make around $38,427 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 22% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.

See which majors at Philander Smith University make the most money.

Location of Philander Smith University

Arkansas State
842 Undergraduate Students
Midsize City Campus Setting

Philander Smith University is an private not-for-profit institution located in Little Rock, Arkansas. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life. Get more details about the location of Philander Smith University.

Location of Philander Smith University

Contact information for Philander Smith University are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 900 W. Daisy Bates Drive, Little Rock, AR 72202-3799
Phone: 5013759845
Website: www.philander.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Philander-Smith-College/143862818997419
Twitter: www.twitter.com/PhilanderSmith

Philander Smith University Majors

14 Majors With Completions
248 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 14 majors graduated from Philander Smith 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 124 NA
Business Administration & Management 52 $23,231
General Biology 14 NA
Criminal Justice & Corrections 13 NA
General Psychology 12 NA
Teacher Education Grade Specific 7 NA
Social Work 6 NA
Computer Science 5 NA
Health & Physical Education 5 NA
Liberal Arts General Studies 3 NA

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

Distance Learning at PSU

62% Take At Least One Class Online
3% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

524 students took at least one online class at Philander Smith University.

Learn more about online learning at Philander Smith University.

Similar InstitutionsWant to see how other colleges compare to PSU? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges 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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