Shaw University is a private not-for-profit institution in Raleigh, North Carolina enrolling 875 undergraduates. It accepts 80% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 22%, below the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #2,896 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 56%), 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.
Shaw University ranks #2,896 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 56%.
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.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Shaw University is ranked #2,896 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.
Shaw University is also ranked #115 on the Best Colleges in North Carolina list.
See all of the rankings for Shaw University.
The acceptance rate at Shaw University is 80%. That’s higher than the rate at many schools, but still low enough to be considered somewhat selective. If you want to get in, you’ll need good grades and to be able to show that Shaw University is a good fit for you.
Learn more about Shaw University admissions.
With a student to faculty ratio of 14 to 1, Shaw University 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.
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 Shaw University is 57%. 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 Shaw University this rate is 52%, 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 obtain their bachelor’s degree in four years or less. This rate is 22% for first-time, full-time students at Shaw University, which is lower than the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Shaw University.
The current enrollment includes 875 undergraduates at Shaw University.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Shaw University.
The overall average net price of Shaw University is $17,140. 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 Shaw University, 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 Shaw University, approximately 71% of students took out student loans averaging $5,842 a year. That adds up to $23,368 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 12.7%. 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 Shaw University.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Shaw University make around $34,409 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 30% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
See which majors at Shaw University make the most money.
Shaw University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Raleigh, North Carolina. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Shaw University.
Contact details for Shaw University are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 118 East South Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 |
| Phone: | 9195468200 |
| Website: | www.shawu.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaw_University |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/ShawUniversity |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/ShawUniversity |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 15 majors graduated from Shaw 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 | 159 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 38 | $24,104 |
| Health & Physical Education | 18 | NA |
| Theological & Ministerial Studies | 12 | NA |
| General Psychology | 10 | NA |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 10 | NA |
| Computer Science | 9 | NA |
| Social Work | 9 | $31,535 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 6 | NA |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | 6 | NA |
512 students took at least one online class at Shaw University.
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.
Learn more about online learning at Shaw University.
Want to see how other colleges compare to Shaw University? Match them up using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.
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