by our College Data Analytics TeamSterling College is a private not-for-profit institution in Sterling, Kansas enrolling 538 undergraduates. It accepts 48% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 41%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,997 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 39%), 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.
Sterling College ranks #1,997 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 39%.
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 SC as #1,997 out of 5,159 colleges and universities in the country on its 2027 Best Colleges list.
SC is also ranked #43 on the Best Colleges in Kansas list.
See all of the rankings for Sterling College.
The acceptance rate at Sterling College is a competitive 48%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
Learn more about Sterling College admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at SC is an impressive 8 to 1. That’s quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
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 Sterling College is 62%. 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 Sterling College this rate is 50%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at SC for first-time, full-time students is 41%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Sterling College.
During the most recent academic year, there were 538 undergraduates at SC.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Sterling College.
The typical net cost at SC 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $19,068 | $19,236 | $21,975 | $23,525 | $26,602 |
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 SC, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
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 SC, approximately 49% of students took out student loans averaging $6,742 a year. That adds up to $26,968 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 8.5%. 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 Sterling College.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Sterling College make about $45,846 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. 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 Sterling College make the most money.
Sterling College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Sterling, Kansas. The rural area surrounding the school is great for students who prefer living in a country setting. Get more details about the location of Sterling College.
Contact details for Sterling College are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 125 W. Cooper, Sterling, KS 67579 |
| Phone: | 6202782173 |
| Website: | www.sterling.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_College_(Kansas) |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/sterlingcollege |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/sterlingclife |
In the most recent reporting year, students from 16 majors graduated from Sterling College. 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 | 135 | NA |
| Health & Physical Education | 19 | $25,167 |
| Allied Health Professions | 16 | NA |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 13 | NA |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 10 | NA |
| Management Sciences & Methods | 10 | NA |
| Other Business & Marketing | 8 | NA |
| Other Interdisciplinary Studies | 7 | NA |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 6 | $38,026 |
| Health/Medical Prep Programs | 5 | NA |
161 students took at least one online class at Sterling College.
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 Sterling College.
Curious how schools stack up against SC? Compare them side by side using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
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.
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