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Seattle Pacific University Data & Information Overview

185 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
92% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about Seattle Pacific University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
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How Well Is Seattle Pacific University Ranked?

#518 Best Colleges in Nation
#10 Best Colleges in WA
Education Highest Ranked Major

2024 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.

Seattle Pacific University was awarded 185 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is education.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

SPU is ranked #518 out of 2,217 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2024 Best Colleges list. This is an improvement over the previous year, when SPU held the #561 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

Out of the 51 colleges in Washington, SPU is ranked at #10.

See all of the rankings for Seattle Pacific University.

Is It Hard to Get Into SPU?

92% Acceptance Rate
71% Of Accepted Are Women
21% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Seattle Pacific University has an acceptance rate of 92%, 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 SPU.

Average Test Scores

About 21% of students accepted to SPU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 530 and 660. Math scores were between 520 and 640.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Seattle Pacific University  ( 530 to 660 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Seattle Pacific University  ( 520 to 640 )
200
800
SPU received ACT scores from 11% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 20 and 28.

ACT Composite Scores for Seattle Pacific University  ( 20 to 28 )
1
36

Learn more about Seattle Pacific University admissions.

Seattle Pacific University Faculty

13 to 1 Student to Faculty
50% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Seattle Pacific University is about average at 13 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.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

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 be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Seattle Pacific University is 50%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  50 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Seattle Pacific University

82% Freshmen Retention
53% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 82% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Seattle Pacific University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  82 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at SPU for first-time, full-time students is 53%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  53 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Seattle Pacific University.

Seattle Pacific University Undergraduate Student Diversity

2,606 Full-Time Undergraduates
46.7% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
67.7% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,702 undergraduates at SPU with 2,606 being full-time and 96 being part-time.

How Much Does Seattle Pacific University Cost?

$26,714 Net Price
56% Take Out Loans
$26,268 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of SPU is $26,714. 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 SPU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$20,772 $20,918 $24,278 $30,211 $35,993

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 SPU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

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 SPU, approximately 56% of students took out student loans averaging $6,567 a year. That adds up to $26,268 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SPU is 2.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Seattle Pacific University.

How Much Money Do SPU Graduates Make?

$57,097 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from SPU make around $57,097 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future SPU graduates since it is 34% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Seattle Pacific University make the most money.

Location of Seattle Pacific University

Washington State
2,606 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Seattle Pacific University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Seattle, Washington. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

Get more details about the location of Seattle Pacific University.

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Contact details for SPU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 3307 3Rd Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119-1997
Phone: 206-281-2000
Website: https://spu.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seattle.pacific.university
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeattlePacific

Seattle Pacific University Majors

62 Majors With Completions
689 Undergraduate Degrees
296 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 62 majors graduated from Seattle Pacific University. Of these students, 689 received undergraduate degrees and 296 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
General Psychology 68 $33,783
General Business/Commerce 66 $44,574
Nursing 64 $71,224
Economics 39 $39,789
Liberal Arts General Studies 34 NA
Design & Applied Arts 30 $38,730
Computer Science 27 $84,413
Communication & Media Studies 26 $38,179
Sociology 17 $21,001
Mechanical Engineering 17 NA

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

Online Learning at SPU

29% Take At Least One Class Online
5% 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.

In 2020-2021, 993 students took at least one online class at Seattle Pacific University. This is a decrease from the 3,389 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 993 170
2019-2020 3,389 1,418
2018-2019 337 89
2017-2018 365 88
2016-2017 270 59

Learn more about online learning at Seattle Pacific University.

If you’re considering Seattle Pacific University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against SPU? 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!

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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