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Purdue University Northwest Data & Information Overview

128 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
72% Acceptance Rate

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

If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.

* Rankings

How Does Purdue University Northwest Stack Up?

#1,360 Best Colleges in Nation
#31 Best Colleges in IN
Purdue University Northwest ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges 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.

Purdue University Northwest was awarded 128 badges in the 2026 rankings.

National Standing

Purdue University Northwest is ranked #1,360 out of 3,449 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2026 Best Colleges list.

Purdue University Northwest also holds the #31 spot on the Best Colleges in Indiana ranking.

See all of the rankings for Purdue University Northwest.

How Difficult Is Admission to Purdue University Northwest?

72% Acceptance Rate
74% Of Accepted Are Women
72% Submit SAT Scores

Admission Selectivity

Purdue University Northwest has an acceptance rate of 72%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.

Standardized Test Scores

About 72% of students accepted to Purdue University Northwest submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 450 and 570. Math scores were between 440 and 570.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Purdue University Northwest  ( 450 to 570 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Purdue University Northwest  ( 440 to 570 )
200
800

Purdue University Northwest received ACT scores from 3% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 16 and 24.

ACT Composite Scores for Purdue University Northwest  ( 16 to 24 )
1
36

Learn more about Purdue University Northwest admissions.

Instructors at Purdue University Northwest

17 to 1 Student to Faculty
100% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

With a student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1, Purdue University Northwest 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.

Full-Time Instructors

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 Purdue University Northwest 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 Purdue University Northwest

68% Freshmen Retention
44% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

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 Purdue University Northwest is 68%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  68 out of 100
0
100

Time to Degree

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Purdue University Northwest the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 44%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  44 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Purdue University Northwest.

Diversity Profile of Purdue University Northwest

5,786 Undergraduate Students
43.3% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
54.7% Percent Women

The current enrollment includes 5,786 undergraduates at Purdue University Northwest.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Purdue University Northwest.

Cost of Attending Purdue University Northwest

$16,772 Net Price
25% Take Out Loans
$24,152 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of Purdue University Northwest 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 Purdue University Northwest

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$4,256 $4,935 $10,143 $13,805 $14,972

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 Purdue University Northwest, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Borrowing and Loans

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 Purdue University Northwest, approximately 25% of students took out student loans averaging $6,038 a year. That adds up to $24,152 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 11.9%. 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 Purdue University Northwest.

What Do Purdue University Northwest Alumni Earn?

$48,318 Avg Salary of Grads
Average Earnings Boost

Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Purdue University Northwest make around $48,318 per year during the early years of their employment. This is in the same neighborhood of the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. However, certain majors may produce higher-paying graduates.

See which majors at Purdue University Northwest make the most money.

Location of Purdue University Northwest

Indiana State
5,786 Undergraduate Students
Suburb Campus Setting

Purdue University Northwest is an public institution situated in Hammond, Indiana. Hammond is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs. Get more details about the location of Purdue University Northwest.

Location of Purdue University Northwest

Contact details for Purdue University Northwest can be found below.

Contact Details
Address: 2200 169th Street, Hammond, IN 46323
Phone: 2199892400
Website: www.pnw.edu

Purdue University Northwest Areas of Study

22 Majors With Completions
3,088 Undergraduate Degrees

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 22 majors graduated from Purdue University Northwest. 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 1,544 NA
Nursing 439 $72,591
Computer Science 78 NA
General Psychology 77 $26,983
Business Administration & Management 76 $45,100
Engineering-Related Fields 74 $52,444
Mechanical Engineering 62 $64,537
Communication & Media Studies 59 $31,096
General Biology 57 $29,482
Accounting 49 $40,367

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

Distance Learning at Purdue University Northwest

39% Take At Least One Class Online
8% Take All Classes Online

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.

2,232 students took at least one online class at Purdue University Northwest.

Learn more about online learning at Purdue University Northwest.

Comparable CollegesInterested in comparing Purdue University Northwest? Match them up using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.

References and Footnotes

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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