Our Lady of the Lake University
Our Lady of the Lake University is located in San Antonio, Texas. It is a private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institution.
From Wikipedia: Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), known locally as the Lake, is a private Catholic university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1895 by the Sisters of Divine Providence, a religious institute originating in Lorraine, France, during the 18th century. The Texas chapter of the institute still sponsors the university. Our Lady of the Lake University was the first San Antonio institution of higher education to receive regional accreditation and its Worden School of Social Service is the oldest Social Work school in Texas. Our Lady of the Lake University offers bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and two doctoral degree programs across its main campus and its satellite campuses in The Woodlands and in the Rio Grande Valley. The university’s athletic teams, the Saints, compete in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) as part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Overview of institution
This, and the rest of the page, use info from the most recent year available, generally 2024.
Institution kind: Doctoral/Professional Universities
Undergrad program: Professions plus arts & sciences, some graduate coexistence
Graduate program: Research Doctoral: Single program-Other
Enrollment profile: Majority graduate (see more details below)
Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $17,961 (1 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, small, primarily residential
In state percentage: 94% of first year students come from Texas (note that 4.1% have no residence reported)
In US percentage: 96% of first year students come from the US (note that 4.1% have no residence reported)
This institution has a religious affiliation of Roman Catholic
Graduation rate (within 6 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 42.4% (this is what is usually reported as “graduation rate”)
Graduation rate (within 4 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 32.9%
Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 14.6 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]
Student to faculty ratio: 9.7 (undergrads to all faculty)
Degrees offered: Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, 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 529 students
Freshmen required to live on campus: No
Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes
Disabilities: 9.94 percent of undergrads are registered as having disabilities.
Undergrad outcomes
This plot shows the outcomes for first time, full time undergraduates seeking Bachelor’s degrees (if the data are available).

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.
- Our Lady of the Lake University lists these schools as ones to compare itself within federal IPEDS data, and they do the same back: St Catherine University, St. Mary’s University, Texas Wesleyan University, St. Thomas University
- Our Lady of the Lake University compares itself to these institutions, but not vice versa: Tuskegee University, Asbury University, Florida Southern College, University of St Thomas, Covenant College, Bryan College-Dayton, Meredith College, Fresno Pacific University, Trevecca Nazarene University, Oakwood University, Mount Saint Mary’s University, Clark Atlanta University, Tennessee Wesleyan University, Dominican University, Reinhardt University, Caldwell University, Louisiana Christian University, Thomas University, Southeastern University, University of the Incarnate Word, Saint Xavier University, Oral Roberts University, Everglades University, La Salle University, East Texas Baptist University, Marian University, Saint Peter’s University, McMurry University, Mars Hill University, Catawba College, Methodist University, D’Youville University, Edgewood College, Carlow University, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Texas Lutheran University, La Sierra University, Shenandoah University, Concordia University-Irvine, Roosevelt University, Ursuline College, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Spalding University, Schreiner University, Barton College, Trinity Washington University, Chowan University, Shaw University, Bethune-Cookman University, Howard Payne University, Coker University, Dallas Baptist University, Limestone University, Midway University, Houston Christian University, Greensboro College, Lourdes University, Notre Dame de Namur University
- These institutions compare themselves to Our Lady of the Lake University, but not vice versa: Mount St. Joseph University, Andrews University, Hallmark University, Saint Edward’s University, Lubbock Christian University, Belmont Abbey College, Hardin-Simmons University, Lynn University
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 2024, 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.
Bachelors
Masters
Doctorate
Certificate
Associates
Demographic cliff
There is a concern that giving changing US demographics, the number of students in the age groups who most commonly attend four year colleges will drop off, decreasing overall enrollment. This is often referred to as the “demographic cliff”, and it can be a concern for colleges concerned about the risk of falling enrollment. For this section, the analysis uses US census data on the number of people in each state by age, and the proportion of students that come from each state for this particular college, to crudely model what will happen if everything remains constant except the demographic change in the population of 18 year olds in each year – it does not account for things like the college increasing its admission rate, attracting more students from states without the same demographic changes or from other countries, or changes in the proportion of students who go to college.
