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Catholic University of America Data & Information Overview

289 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
86% Acceptance Rate
Get the facts about Catholic University of America. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is Catholic University of America Ranked?

#367 Best Colleges in Nation
#5 Best Colleges in DC
Theology & Religious Vocations Highest Ranked Major

2024 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Catholic University of America was awarded 289 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is theology & religious vocations.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

CUA landed the #367 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.

CUA is also ranked #5 out of 8 schools in District of Columbia.

See all of the rankings for Catholic University of America.

Is It Hard to Get Into CUA?

86% Acceptance Rate
58% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at Catholic University of America is 86%, which is higher than many other schools to which you may be applying. But don't think getting into CUA is a sure thing. The admissions staff is still going to review your application to see if you are a good fit for the school.

Learn more about Catholic University of America admissions.

Catholic University of America Faculty

11 to 1 Student to Faculty
52% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At CUA, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 11 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Catholic University of America is 52%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  52 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Catholic University of America

88% Freshmen Retention
65% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 88% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Catholic University of America 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  88 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at CUA for first-time, full-time students is 65%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  65 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Catholic University of America.

Catholic University of America Undergraduate Student Diversity

2,934 Full-Time Undergraduates
25.2% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
56.6% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 3,055 undergraduates at CUA with 2,934 being full-time and 121 being part-time.

How Much Does Catholic University of America Cost?

$34,684 Net Price
56% Take Out Loans
$35,764 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of CUA is $34,684. 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 CUA

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$25,747 $27,863 $27,084 $32,715 $38,300

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 CUA, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At CUA, approximately 56% of students took out student loans averaging $8,941 a year. That adds up to $35,764 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at CUA is 2.4%. 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 Catholic University of America.

How Much Money Do CUA Graduates Make?

$71,804 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from CUA with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $71,804 in their early years. This is good news for future CUA graduates since it is 69% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Catholic University of America make the most money.

Location of Catholic University of America

District of Columbia State
2,934 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Located in Washington, District of Columbia, Catholic University of America is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

Get more details about the location of Catholic University of America.

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Contact details for CUA are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 620 Michigan Avenue, Ne, Washington, DC 20064
Phone: 202-319-5000
Website: https://www.catholic.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CatholicUniversity
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CatholicUniv

Catholic University of America Majors

74 Majors With Completions
903 Undergraduate Degrees
745 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 74 majors graduated from Catholic University of America. Of these students, 903 received undergraduate degrees and 745 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
Political Science & Government 68 $41,721
Nursing 64 $71,927
General Psychology 57 $29,308
General Architecture 53 $46,662
Business Administration & Management 50 $57,624
Music 47 $29,342
Finance & Financial Management 46 $51,938
General Business/Commerce 37 NA
Mechanical Engineering 35 $66,697
Philosophy 34 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Catholic University of America along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at CUA

25% Take At Least One Class Online
9% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2020-2021, 1,265 students took at least one online class at Catholic University of America. This is a decrease from the 5,263 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 1,265 470
2019-2020 5,263 3,107
2018-2019 738 315
2017-2018 781 414
2016-2017 793 524

Learn more about online learning at Catholic University of America.

If you’re considering Catholic University of America, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against CUA? 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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