Texas State University
Texas State University is located in San Marcos, Texas. It is a public, 4-year or above institution.
From Wikipedia: Texas State University (TXST) is a public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas and another campus in Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to be one of the largest universities in the United States. Texas State University reached a record enrollment of 40,678 students in the 2024 fall semester, continuing a trend of enrollment growth over several years. Texas State University offers over 200 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs from its ten colleges. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by the United States Department of Education. Texas State is classified among “R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity” and an Emerging Research University (ERU) by the State of Texas. It spent over $140 million in research expenditures during fiscal year 2023. The 36th president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, graduated from the institution in 1930; Texas State University is the only college or university in Texas to have a United States president as an alumnus. Texas State’s main campus consists of 245 buildings on 507 acres (2.05 km2) of hilly land along the San Marcos River. Additionally, it has a 101 acres (0.41 km2) satellite campus at its Round Rock Campus (RRC) in the greater north Austin area. The university operates the 70 acres (0.28 km2) Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Park, a technology commercialization and applied research facility. Texas State has 4,522 acres (18.30 km2) additional acres of recreational, instructional, farm, and ranch land. The Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State is the largest forensics research facility in the world. Texas State University’s intercollegiate sports teams, the Bobcats, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Sun Belt Conference.
Notes
These are items that bear looking into more closely.
- This institution’s six year bachelors graduation rate is 55.9%, so approximately 2/5 of undergrads who enroll do not earn a bachelors degree from here.
Overview of institution
This, and the rest of the page, use info from the most recent year available, generally 2023.
Institution kind: Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity
Undergrad program: Balanced arts & sciences/professions, high graduate coexistence
Graduate program: Research Doctoral: Professional-dominant
Enrollment profile: High undergraduate (see more details below)
Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $14,120 . This is 70% the average 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, large, primarily nonresidential
In state percentage: 97% of first year students come from Texas
In US percentage: 99% of first year students come from the US
Graduation rate (within 6 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 55.9% (this is what is usually reported as “graduation rate”)
Graduation rate (within 4 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 34.8%
Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 39.9 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]
Student to faculty ratio: 21.8 (undergrads to all faculty)
Degrees offered: Bachelor’s degree, Postbaccalaureate certificate, 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 6853 students
Freshmen required to live on campus: No
Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes
Disabilities: 5.84 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.
- Texas State University lists these schools as ones to compare itself within federal IPEDS data, and they do the same back: University of Vermont, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Northern Arizona University, University of South Alabama, Prairie View A & M University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Old Dominion University, University of Northern Colorado, Lamar University, Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A & M University-Commerce
- Texas State University compares itself to these institutions, but not vice versa: The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A & M University-College Station, University of Central Florida, William & Mary, Auburn University, San Diego State University, Binghamton University, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Texas Tech University, University of Houston, Oklahoma State University-Main Campus, Colorado School of Mines, The University of Alabama, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Louisiana Tech University, Idaho State University, Tennessee State University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, University of Nevada-Reno, Mississippi State University, Ball State University, University of North Texas, North Carolina A & T State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Middle Tennessee State University, George Mason University, University of Rhode Island, The University of Texas at Dallas, Miami University-Oxford, Indiana University-Indianapolis, Illinois State University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Florida Atlantic University, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Kent State University at Kent, University of New Hampshire-Main Campus, The University of Texas at Arlington, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Missouri-St Louis, South Dakota State University, University of North Dakota, Utah State University, Ohio University-Main Campus, Bowling Green State University-Main Campus, Montana State University, East Carolina University, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Sam Houston State University, University of Idaho, University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Northern Illinois University, Rutgers University-Newark, Central Michigan University, North Dakota State University-Main Campus, East Tennessee State University, New Mexico State University-Main Campus, Oakland University, University of Wyoming, Western Michigan University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, The University of Texas at El Paso, University of Akron Main Campus, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Portland State University, University of Toledo, Michigan Technological University, University of California-Merced, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Cleveland State University, Wichita State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus, Augusta University, University of Maryland, Baltimore, University of South Dakota, University of Memphis, University of Maine, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, University of New Orleans, University of Southern Mississippi, Texas Woman’s University, Alabama A & M University, The University of Montana, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Wright State University-Main Campus, Texas A & M University-Kingsville, Indiana State University, Texas Southern University, Jackson State University, South Carolina State University, University of California-San Francisco, Naval Postgraduate School
- These institutions compare themselves to Texas State University, but not vice versa: California State University-Fullerton, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, University of North Georgia, University of Central Oklahoma, Hallmark University, Georgia Southern University, Arkansas State University, California State University-Northridge, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Missouri State University-Springfield, Northern Kentucky University, Southeastern Louisiana University, California State University-Chico, Eastern Michigan University, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Lubbock Christian University, Saint Cloud State University, South University-Austin, The Chicago School at Dallas
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.