Saint Leo University
About
Saint Leo University is a private Catholic university in St. Leo, Florida, United States. It was established in 1889. The university is associated with the Holy Name Monastery, a Benedictine convent, and Saint Leo Abbey, a Benedictine monastery. The university and the abbey are both named for Pope Leo the Great, bishop of Rome from 440 to 461. The name also honors Leo XIII, who was pope at the time the university was founded, and Leo Haid, then abbot of Maryhelp Abbey in North Carolina, now Belmont Abbey, who participated in founding the university and served as its first president.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 7.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 82 Title IV programs, 35 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 46 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing35 · 42.7%
- No Data46 · 56.1%
- Failing1 · 1.2%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Near the line (±5%)
Programs within five points of the pass line, one cohort year from flipping.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
Programmatic accreditations · 3
Action history · 16
- Dec 2024Accreditation Reaffirmed: Probation RemovedSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Dec 2024Heightened Monitoring or Focused ReviewSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Apr 2024Grant Substantive Change: ProgramSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Dec 2023Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: Show CauseSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Dec 2023Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: ProbationSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 2,874 students received $15.5M in Pell grants, alongside $35.6M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 4,967 borrowers who entered repayment, 132 (2.6%) defaulted within three years — above the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Saint Leo
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 10
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus1
Includes 1 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Saint Leo vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Saint Leo selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectSaint Leo University | 45% | — | 9,692 | $18,467 | Doctoral/Professional |
Campbellsville University | 42% | 79.7% | 10,836 | $18,246 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Christian Brothers University | 55% | 86.7% | 1,772 | $10,896 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Cumberland University | 42% | 67.3% | 3,457 | $18,292 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
LeTourneau University | 59% | 38.0% | 3,330 | $25,314 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Lipscomb University | 72% | 67.7% | 5,017 | $25,610 | Doctoral/Professional |
Mary Baldwin University | 39% | 87.1% | 1,772 | $17,833 | Doctoral/Professional |
Pfeiffer University | 35% | 96.0% | 889 | $21,953 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Piedmont University | 47% | 93.3% | 1,857 | $20,893 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Queens University of Charlotte | 61% | 62.1% | 1,599 | $27,786 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Saint Edward's University | 63% | 81.4% | 3,033 | $23,636 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Southern Wesleyan University | 57% | 99.5% | 980 | $19,968 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs |
Texas Wesleyan University | 32% | 69.2% | 2,487 | $19,398 | Doctoral/Professional |
The University of Tampa | 64% | 40.3% | 11,433 | $35,634 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Tusculum University | 25% | 72.2% | 1,103 | $22,874 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Union University | 66% | 60.4% | 2,713 | $26,815 | Doctoral/Professional |
University of the Cumberlands | 50% | 98.8% | 22,120 | $11,286 | Doctoral/Professional |
| Peer group median | 50% | 76.0% | 2,713 | $20,893 |
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Frequently asked questions about Saint Leo University
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Saint Leo.
What is the graduation rate at Saint Leo University?
How many students attend Saint Leo University?
What is the average net price at Saint Leo University?
What is the yield rate at Saint Leo University?
Where is Saint Leo University located?
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