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 2021-2022, 40% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, Columbia Southern University bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $64,977 a year. That's about 59% more than their peers at other schools.

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
Website:	www.columbiasouthern.edu

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 41% of students took out student loans averaging $5,701 a year. That adds up to $22,804 over four years for those students.

Columbia Southern University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 11,672 undergraduate students at Columbia Southern University, with 6,370 being full-time and 5,302 being part-time.

There are also 4,740 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 6,370 full-time undergraduates at Columbia Southern University, 61% are male and 39% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	88
Black or African American	1,107
Hispanic or Latino	109
White	3,832
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,234

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 48 bachelor’s degree and 24 master’s degree programs available online at Columbia Southern University. In 2022-2023, 15,948 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 2022-2023.

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
Computer & IS Security	17%
Criminal Justice	56%
Emergency Medical Technology/Technician (EMT Paramedic)	33%
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	40%
Medical Insurance Coding Specialist/Coder	10%
Project Management	25%
Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician	3%
Public Administration	16%
Public Administration & Social Service	16%

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	19	224	695	5	1,009	29	1,981
Quality Control Technology	31	283	547	12	374	0	1,247
Fire Protection	28	405	485	0	0	0	918
Criminal Justice & Corrections	0	130	245	0	69	0	444
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	52	158	4	0	0	214
Homeland Security	7	0	69	0	138	0	214
Public Administration	0	0	0	11	143	0	154
Human Resource Management	10	0	120	14	0	0	144
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	129	0	0	0	0	129
Allied Health Professions	0	53	60	0	0	0	113
Mental & Social Health Services	4	0	95	0	0	0	99
Computer Information Systems	3	0	85	0	0	0	88
Public Health	0	0	0	0	84	0	84
Natural Resources Conservation	16	0	62	2	0	0	80
Information Technology	8	0	70	0	0	0	78
Marketing	3	0	0	2	0	0	5
Finance & Financial Management	2	0	0	1	0	0	3
Health & Physical Education	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Hospitality Management	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
TOTAL	134	1,276	2,691	51	1,817	29	5,998

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.