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University of the Southwest Complete Information Guide

Fair Price Value for Your Money
12% Student Loan Default Rate

If you want to know more about University of the Southwest, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.

Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taken to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

* Rankings

How Well Is University of the Southwest Ranked?

#2,144 Best Colleges in Nation
#11 Best Colleges in NM
University of the Southwest ranking badge

2026 College Rankings

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.

Overall Ranking

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, USW is ranked #2,144 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

USW is also ranked #11 on the Best Colleges in New Mexico list.

See all of the rankings for University of the Southwest.

What Are the Admission Requirements for University of the Southwest?

Admission Selectivity

Learn more about University of the Southwest admissions.

Teaching Staff at University of the Southwest

21 to 1 Student to Faculty
100% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

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.

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 University of the Southwest 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 University of the Southwest

53% Freshmen Retention
27% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

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 53%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  53 out of 100
0
100

Academic Completion

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 27% for first-time, full-time students at USW, which is lower than the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  27 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of the Southwest.

Undergraduate Diversity at University of the Southwest

337 Undergraduate Students
75.7% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
50.0% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 337 undergraduates at USW.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at University of the Southwest.

Cost of Attending University of the Southwest

$16,772 Net Price
64% Take Out Loans
$24,948 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of USW 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 USW

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$17,598 $18,554 $22,163 $22,814 $23,279

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.

Student 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 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.

Post-Graduation Earnings for University of the Southwest

$45,389 Avg Salary of Grads
Low Earnings Boost

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.

Location of University of the Southwest

New Mexico State
337 Undergraduate Students
Town Campus Setting

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.

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

University of the Southwest Areas of Study

12 Majors With Completions
596 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 12 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 298 NA
Student Counseling 46 $47,026
General Biology 30 NA
Curriculum & Instruction 24 NA
Mental & Social Health Services 24 $41,784
Business Administration & Management 24 $65,468
Educational Assessment 22 NA
Health & Physical Education 22 $35,815
Liberal Arts General Studies 15 NA
Special Education 12 NA

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

Online Study Options at USW

98% Take At Least One Class Online
16% 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.

331 students took at least one online class at University of the Southwest.

Learn more about online learning at University of the Southwest.

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

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