University of Scranton
University of Scranton is located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It is a private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institution.
From Wikipedia: The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O’Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took the name The University of Scranton. The institution was operated by the Diocese of Scranton from its founding until 1897. While the Diocese of Scranton retained ownership of the university, it was administered by the Lasallian Christian Brothers from 1888 to 1942. In 1942, the Society of Jesus took ownership and control of the university. During the 1960s, the university became an independent institution under a lay board of trustees. The university is composed of three colleges that each contain both undergraduate and graduate programs. It offers 65 bachelor’s degrees, 29 master’s degrees, and 4 doctoral programs. The university enrolls approximately 6,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Most of its students are from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. In 2016, about 58% of its undergraduate students were women and 42% men. In its graduate programs, about 62% are women students and 38% men. The university has about 300 full-time faculty members, approximately 200 of which are tenured.
Notes
These are items that bear looking into more closely.
This institution’s six year bachelors graduation rate is 79.9%, so approximately 1/5 of undergrads who enroll do not earn a bachelors degree from here.
This institution’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has tended to decrease over time.
Overview of institution
This, and the rest of the page, use info from the most recent year available, generally 2023.
Institution kind: Master’s Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
Undergrad program: Professions plus arts & sciences, some graduate coexistence
Graduate program: Postbaccalaureate: Business-dominant, with Arts & Sciences
Enrollment profile: High undergraduate (see more details below)
Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $35,526 (1.8 times the equivalent cost of Harvard).
Actual price for your family: Go here to see what your family may be asked to pay. It can be MUCH lower than the average price but also higher for some.
Size and setting: Four-year, medium, highly residential
In state percentage: 44% of first year students come from Pennsylvania
In US percentage: 100% of first year students come from the US
This institution has a religious affiliation of Roman Catholic
Graduation rate (within 6 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 79.9% (this is what is usually reported as “graduation rate”)
Graduation rate (within 4 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 75.4%
Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 15.2 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]
Student to faculty ratio: 12.6 (undergrads to all faculty)
Degrees offered: Certificate of less than 1 year, Certificate of at least 12 weeks but less than 1 year, Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, Postbaccalaureate certificate, Master’s degree, Post master’s certificate, Doctor’s degree: research scholarship, Doctor’s degree: professional practice
Schedule: Semester
Institution provides on campus housing: Yes
Dorm capacity: There are enough dorm beds for 2590 students
Freshmen required to live on campus: No
Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes
Disabilities: 8.10 percent of undergrads are registered as having disabilities.
Map
Comparisons
The sections below show this institution compared with others. The ones listed are ones it has identified as peers, who consider themselves peers, and/or who the federal government considers peers. If a comparison school has the same value as the focal school, its cell is grayed out. In fields where there is a common view that higher (or lower) values are better, the best values are in blue, the worst values are in red. If there isn’t a sense of a particular value being better, values are shown in varying shades of green. Arrows show where there is a signficant trend over time for a school. You can swipe across the table to see more of it; the focal school column is always visible.
- University of Scranton lists these schools as ones to compare itself within federal IPEDS data, and they do the same back: Marist College, Sacred Heart University, Ithaca College, Loyola University Maryland, Butler University, Saint Joseph’s University, Quinnipiac University, Manhattan College, Valparaiso University, La Salle University
- University of Scranton compares itself to these institutions, but not vice versa: The College of New Jersey, Providence College, Fairfield University, Emerson College, Elon University, Creighton University, Bryant University, Drake University, Seattle University, Xavier University, Rider University
- These institutions compare themselves to University of Scranton, but not vice versa: The University of Tampa, University of Rhode Island, Rowan University, Samford University, Messiah University, SUNY Brockport, Seton Hall University, Belmont University, Adelphi University, Rockhurst University, Drury University, Duquesne University, Salve Regina University, Siena College, John Carroll University, Marywood University, Loyola University New Orleans, DeSales University, Le Moyne College, University of Redlands, Ashland University, Caldwell University, Longwood University, Niagara University, Canisius University, University of Hartford, Hamline University, Monmouth University, Nazareth University, Assumption University, Widener University, Misericordia University, Mount St. Mary’s University, University of Saint Joseph, Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus, Saint Peter’s University, Iona University, Wilkes University, King’s College, Albright College, Chestnut Hill College, Westminster University, University of Charleston
Enrollment
General
Teaching
Tenure track faculty are those who are eligible for tenure. This includes both pre-tenure and tenured faculty. Once faculty get tenure, they are (generally) protected from being fired for intellectual reasons, helping to ensure their freedom in teaching and research. They can still lose their positions for misconduct, financial problems, not fulfilling their duties, or other reasons.
Non-tenure track faculty are not eligible for tenure. Some are hired one semester at a time, some have multi-year contracts. They typically have a higher teaching load than tenure track faculty, leaving less time for research or other creative endeavors. They are also easier to fire than tenured faculty. Sometimes they are external experts (a noted musician, a former senator) who are hired to teach some classes without the expected permanence of a tenure-track position.
Note that this chart uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.
Having a low student to faculty ratio is considered a good thing by many, as it can mean more individual attention.
Geography
This has information on the location of the institution. See the about page for more information on what the metrics are and how they are calculated.
Financial Aid
Graduation
Note these are bachelors graduation rates in six years, not four (this is standard). Sample sizes can be small for some demographic groups with few individuals in a school, leading to large year-to-year fluctuations and often extreme values for those groups (if there are two individuals in the class with a given identity, the possible graduation rates are 0%, 50%, or 100% depending on whether zero, one, or both students graduate within six years).
Library
Libraries are changing rapidly. Note that how institutions count digital collections may vary.
Diversity
The US Census Bureau has a diversity index that goes from 0 to 1. In their words, “A 0-value indicates that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. A value close to 1 indicates that everyone in the population has different racial and ethnic characteristics.” This uses their formula, but with the resolution available for the federal IPEDS data (which does not separate for a given demographic group whether members identify as Hispanic or not). This metric is about heterogeneity within the population, not the proportion of the population that comes from historically excluded groups.
Following the practice of the census, the index is multiplied by 100 to give the percentage probability a random pair of individuals will have a different background. Most institutions argue that diversity is a benefit, so by default a higher number is listed as better, but there may be cases where this measure does not reflect the mission of a college (for example, 70% of the students at a tribal college or university may be American Indian: that could be low-scoring by this metric but should not be read as “bad” given the institution’s mission).
These numbers are based on the most recent year available, generally 2023, which predates effects of the US Supreme Court’s striking down of affirmative action. This has often changed, sometimes dramatically, the incoming student demographics at some institutions.
Overall diversity
Freshman profile
Demographic data for first time degree-seeking students. Note that this uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.
Freshman geography
Test scores
SAT scores
ACT scores
Majors
This presents information on the number of majors and the median earnings one and five years after graduation for people who got a degree from this institution in that field. The earnings are for those who are working and not enrolled in further education. The earnings data (from the federal college scorecard) also has information on earnings for those categorized as ‘MALE’ and ‘NOMALE’ – for readability, these are recategorized here as “Men” and “Women”, respectively, which adopts the gender binary used in other federal data. “W/M earnings ratio” is the median earnings of women divided by men, as a percentage.