Columbia Southern University Overview

Located in Orange Beach, Alabama, Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit institution. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Orange Beach draws many to the area.

What Is Columbia Southern University Known For?

• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at Columbia Southern University.
• In 2017-2018, 49% of the faculty were full-time.

Columbia Southern University Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, Columbia Southern University is ranked #246 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #1 out of 49 schools in Alabama.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Columbia Southern University has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#8	Best Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#140	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Columbia Southern University.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Quality Control Technology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Fire Protection Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Best Natural Resources & Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Best Engineering Technologies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Best Liberal Arts & Humanities Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Best Natural Resources Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Business, Management & Marketing Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#39	Best Law Enforcement & Firefighting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Columbia Southern University has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Highest Paid Natural Resources & Conservation Graduates	College Factual
#1	Highest Paid Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Graduates	College Factual
#3	Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Quality Control Technology	College Factual
#14	Best Business Associate Degree Schools	Business Degree Central
#49	Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation	College Factual
#51	Best Value Colleges for Natural Resources Conservation	College Factual

Where Is Columbia Southern University?

Contact details for Columbia Southern University are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	21982 University Lane, Orange Beach, AL 36561-9000
Phone:	251-981-3771
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/Columbia.Southern
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/CSUedu

How Do I Get Into Columbia Southern University?

You can apply to Columbia Southern University online at: www.columbiasouthern.edu/Apply-Now

Columbia Southern University has an open admissions policy, so you don't have to worry about getting into the school if you have a high school diploma or its equivalent.

Can I Afford Columbia Southern University?

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Columbia Southern University, approximately 58% of students took out student loans averaging $6,412 a year. That adds up to $25,648 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Columbia Southern University is 8.8%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.

Columbia Southern University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 13,254 undergraduate students at Columbia Southern University, with 6,866 being full-time and 6,388 being part-time.

There are also 5,279 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 6,866 full-time undergraduates at Columbia Southern University, 59% are male and 41% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Columbia Southern University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	91
Black or African American	1,279
Hispanic or Latino	202
White	3,598
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,695

Geographic Diversity

Alabama students aren't the only ones who study at Columbia Southern University. At this time, 44 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Online Learning at Columbia Southern University

There are 14 bachelor’s degree and 7 master’s degree programs available online at Columbia Southern University. In 2019-2020, 18,533 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Columbia Southern University has changed over the last few years.

This school is the most popular in Alabama for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of Columbia Southern University Rankings

The following table shows how Columbia Southern University is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Human Resource Management	#1	#1
Public Administration & Social Service	#1	#1
Homeland Security	#1	#1
Natural Resources Conservation	#1	#1
Public Health	#1	#1
Engineering Technologies	#1	#1
Quality Control Technology	#1	#1
Mental & Social Health Services	#1	#1
Public Administration	#1	#1
Allied Health Professions	#4	#1
Marketing	#4	#1
Information Technology	#4	#1
Natural Resources & Conservation	#4	#1
Criminal Justice & Corrections	#4	#4
Computer Information Systems	#7	#4
Health Professions	#7	#4
Health & Medical Administrative Services	#7	#7
Computer & Information Sciences	#13	#4

Online Growth Rankings of Columbia Southern University

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Columbia Southern University was -3.5%. This is the #859 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at Columbia Southern University regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Columbia Southern University majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Allied Health Professions	38%
Engineering Technologies	3%
Fire Protection	7%
Health Professions	8%
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	2%
Human Resource Management	5%
Mental & Social Health Services	13%
Public Administration	20%
Public Administration & Social Service	20%
Public Health	17%
Quality Control Technology	3%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Columbia Southern University ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Quality Control Technology	#31
Natural Resources Conservation	#42
Natural Resources & Conservation	#61
Fire Protection	#84
Allied Health Professions	#99
Homeland Security	#126
Mental & Social Health Services	#166
Public Health	#170
Engineering Technologies	#175
Public Administration	#176
Finance & Financial Management	#180
Marketing	#282
Human Resource Management	#330
Public Administration & Social Service	#331
Information Technology	#346
Computer Information Systems	#367

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Columbia Southern University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Basic Certificate	Associate’s	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	29	386	1,032	9	1,173	12	2,641
Quality Control Technology	50	424	793	20	357	0	1,644
Fire Protection	11	660	468	0	0	0	1,139
Criminal Justice & Corrections	0	238	277	0	40	0	555
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	69	201	4	0	0	274
Homeland Security	1	0	75	0	175	0	251
Human Resource Management	22	0	167	8	0	0	197
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	140	0	0	0	0	140
Public Administration	0	0	0	6	126	0	132
Natural Resources Conservation	25	0	92	6	0	0	123
Computer Information Systems	8	0	107	0	0	0	115
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	111	0	0	0	111
Public Health	0	0	0	0	82	0	82
Allied Health Professions	0	0	71	0	0	0	71
Information Technology	0	0	30	0	0	0	30
Finance & Financial Management	2	0	0	3	0	0	5
Hospitality Management	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
International Business	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Health & Physical Education	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Marketing	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
TOTAL	155	1,917	3,424	56	1,953	12	7,517

References

*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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics

More about our data sources and methodologies.