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Ball State University Data & Information Overview

439 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
68% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on Ball State University? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Ball State offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

How Well Is Ball State University Ranked?

#205 Best Colleges in Nation
#6 Best Colleges in IN
General Special Education Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Ball State University was awarded 439 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is general special education.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

Ball State landed the #205 spot in College Factual's 2024 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,217 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when Ball State held the #234 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

Out of the 42 colleges in Indiana, Ball State is ranked at #6.

See all of the rankings for Ball State University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Ball State?

68% Acceptance Rate
68% Of Accepted Are Women
42% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Ball State University has an acceptance rate of 68%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for Ball State.

Average Test Scores

About 42% of students accepted to Ball State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 610. Math scores were between 500 and 600.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Ball State University  ( 510 to 610 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Ball State University  ( 500 to 600 )
200
800
Ball State received ACT scores from 13% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 20 and 27.

ACT Composite Scores for Ball State University  ( 20 to 27 )
1
36

Learn more about Ball State University admissions.

Ball State University Faculty

14 to 1 Student to Faculty
81% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

With a student to faculty ratio of 14 to 1, Ball State University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Ball State University is 81%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  81 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Ball State University

73% Freshmen Retention
53% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 73% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Ball State University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  73 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Ball State the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 53%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  53 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Ball State University.

Ball State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

14,334 Full-Time Undergraduates
21.8% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
60.9% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 15,780 undergraduates at Ball State with 14,334 being full-time and 1,446 being part-time.

How Much Does Ball State University Cost?

$14,765 Net Price
88% Take Out Loans
$28,104 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Ball State is $14,765. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Ball State

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$8,273 $10,786 $15,158 $19,563 $21,875

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Ball State, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Ball State, approximately 88% of students took out student loans averaging $7,026 a year. That adds up to $28,104 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Ball State is 4.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Ball State University.

How Much Money Do Ball State Graduates Make?

$45,934 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Ball State with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $45,934 in their early years. This is good news for future Ball State graduates since it is 8% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Ball State University make the most money.

Location of Ball State University

Indiana State
14,334 Full-Time Undergraduates
Small City Campus Setting
Located in Muncie, Indiana, Ball State University is a public institution. The city atmosphere of Muncie makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of Ball State University.

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Contact details for Ball State are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 2000 W. University Ave, Muncie, IN 47306
Phone: 765-289-1241
Website: https://www.bsu.edu/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BallState

Ball State University Majors

99 Majors With Completions
3,671 Undergraduate Degrees
2,404 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 99 majors graduated from Ball State University. Of these students, 3,671 received undergraduate degrees and 2,404 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 237 $29,198
Liberal Arts General Studies 217 $30,527
General Business/Commerce 202 $43,798
Teacher Education Grade Specific 187 $37,922
General Psychology 185 $29,839
Nursing 140 $57,387
Teacher Education Subject Specific 136 $38,492
General Biology 127 $29,021
Health & Physical Education 125 $30,565
Marketing 99 $38,503

Learn more about the majors offered at Ball State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Ball State

60% Take At Least One Class Online
25% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

In 2020-2021, 12,168 students took at least one online class at Ball State University. This is a decrease from the 19,352 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 12,168 5,068
2019-2020 19,352 6,520
2018-2019 9,809 5,079
2017-2018 9,923 5,054
2016-2017 10,229 4,670

Learn more about online learning at Ball State University.

If you’re considering Ball State University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Ball State? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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