Southwestern University
About
Southwestern University is a private liberal arts university located in Georgetown, Texas. Established in 1840, it holds the distinction of being both the oldest college or university in Texas, and having maintained continuous, unbroken operation since its founding. While the institution evolved through a 1873 union of four earlier colleges, it remains the state's oldest academic lineage. This uninterrupted history, originating with the chartering of Rutersville College, also establishes Southwestern as the oldest continually operating university in Texas.
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
Pell and non-Pell students graduate at nearly identical rates — a notably small equity gap.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 43 Title IV programs, 7 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 36 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing7 · 16.3%
- No Data36 · 83.7%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
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.
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 · 1
Action history · 3
- Jun 2023Renewal of AccreditationSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Jun 2015Renewal of AccreditationSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Aug 2014Change in Agency recognitionNational Association of Schools of Music, Commission on Accreditation · Music (MUS) - Institutions and units within institutions offering degree-granting and/or non-degree-granting programs
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, 429 students received $2.5M in Pell grants, alongside $10.1M 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 271 borrowers who entered repayment, 5 (1.8%) defaulted within three years — below 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 Southwestern
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 · 12
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 campus9
Includes 8 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
- Kurth (Now Clark)1 fireOtherDamage $0-$99
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Southwestern vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Southwestern 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectSouthwestern University | 73% | — | 1,440 | $27,468 | Baccalaureate |
Allegheny College | 73% | 54.6% | 1,171 | $21,900 | Baccalaureate |
Bates College | 90% | 13.3% | 1,760 | $30,703 | Baccalaureate |
Centre College | 81% | 54.4% | 1,404 | $21,497 | Baccalaureate |
Hendrix College | 72% | 55.6% | 1,110 | $23,409 | Baccalaureate |
Kalamazoo College | 76% | 75.3% | 1,166 | $18,873 | Baccalaureate |
Kenyon College | 82% | 31.0% | 2,249 | $29,383 | Baccalaureate |
Lawrence University | 77% | 63.9% | 1,417 | $24,563 | Baccalaureate |
Reed College | 71% | 24.6% | 1,358 | $39,951 | Baccalaureate |
Wheaton College | 73% | 67.7% | 1,785 | $30,934 | Baccalaureate |
Whitman College | 81% | 38.1% | 1,561 | $35,506 | Baccalaureate |
| Peer group median | 76% | 54.5% | 1,417 | $27,468 |
Southwestern Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
The Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness provides and coordinates information utilized for Southwestern University decision-making, reporting, assessment, and accreditation.
Visit IR office page- Kimberly FarisDirector of Institutional Research and Effectiveness
- Cheyenne RyalsInstitutional Effectiveness Analyst
- Hal HoeppnerInstitutional Research Analyst
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Notable alumni of Southwestern (19)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- James Marion West Jr.Business
- Hiram Abiff BoazClergy
- Stanley HauerwasClergy
- Bill EngvallEntertainment
- Jerry HardinEntertainment
- Claude Porter WhiteEntertainment
- J. Frank DobieLiterature and journalism
- Hubert Renfro KnickerbockerLiterature and journalism
- Jessie Daniel AmesPolitics
- Joan BrayPolitics
- Robert L. HenryPolitics
- J. Marvin JonesPolitics
Frequently asked questions about Southwestern University
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Southwestern.
What is the graduation rate at Southwestern University?
How many students attend Southwestern University?
What is the average net price at Southwestern University?
What is the yield rate at Southwestern University?
Where is Southwestern University located?
Who runs Institutional Research at Southwestern University?
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