by our College Data Analytics TeamUniversity of the Southwest is a private not-for-profit institution in Hobbs, New Mexico enrolling 346 undergraduates. It has an on-time graduation rate of 17%, below the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #2,257 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 44%), 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.
University of the Southwest ranks #2,257 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 44%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, USW is ranked #2,257 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.
Within the state, USW holds the #13 spot on the Best Colleges in New Mexico ranking.
See all of the rankings for University of the Southwest.
Learn more about University of the Southwest admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at University of the Southwest is 21 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 15 to 1. This may indicate that some of your classes will be larger in size than they would be at other schools. However, upper level classes will probably be smaller.
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 University of the Southwest is 100%. 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 University of the Southwest this rate is 55%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.
When we say that a student has graduated on time, we mean that they have finished their bachelor’s degree within four years. The on-time graduation rate at USW is 17%. That’s lower than the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of the Southwest.
In the current academic year, there are 346 undergraduates at USW.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at University of the Southwest.
The overall average net price of USW 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15,384 | $14,090 | $15,943 | $20,077 | $21,985 |
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 USW, 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 USW, approximately 64% of students took out student loans averaging $6,237 a year. That adds up to $24,948 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 12.0%. 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 University of the Southwest.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from University of the Southwest make about $45,389 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is right on par with the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. Also, graduates in your major field may make more.
See which majors at University of the Southwest make the most money.
University of the Southwest is a private not-for-profit institution located in Hobbs, New Mexico. The surrounding location of Hobbs is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town. Get more details about the location of University of the Southwest.
Contact details for University of the Southwest can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 6610 North Lovington Hwy, Hobbs, NM 88240 |
| Phone: | 5753926561 |
| Website: | www.usw.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/universityofthesouthwest |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/USW_HobbsNM |
In the latest year of available data, students from 10 majors graduated from University of the Southwest. 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 | 306 | NA |
| Mental & Social Health Services | 46 | $41,784 |
| Student Counseling | 45 | $47,026 |
| Health & Physical Education | 29 | $35,815 |
| Business Administration & Management | 27 | $65,468 |
| General Biology | 26 | NA |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 17 | NA |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 15 | NA |
| General Psychology | 14 | NA |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 13 | $31,861 |
331 students took at least one online class at University of the Southwest.
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.
Learn more about online learning at University of the Southwest.
Curious how schools stack up against USW? 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.
References