San Jose State University Overview
Located in San Jose, California, San Jose State University is a public institution. The city atmosphere of San Jose makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.
What Is San Jose State University Known For?
- The student loan default rate at San Jose State is 4%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
- Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at San Jose State.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 43% of the faculty were full-time.
- After graduation, San Jose State bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $56,100 a year. That's about 38% more than their peers at other schools.
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San Jose State University Rankings
San Jose State is ranked #434 out of 2,587 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2022 Best Colleges list.
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.
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at San Jose State.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards San Jose State has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#47 | Best Nursing Schools | Nursing Degree Search |
#48 | Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools | College Factual |
#69 | Best Public Administration & Social Service Schools | College Factual |
#87 | Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools | College Factual |
#108 | Best Education Schools | College Factual |
#166 | Best Health Professions Schools | College Factual |
Where Is San Jose State University?

Contact details for San Jose State are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0001 |
Phone: | 408-924-1000 |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/sanjosestate |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/#!/sjsu |
How Do I Get Into San Jose State?
You can apply to San Jose State online at: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply
Admission Requirements for San Jose State
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | neither required nor recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | neither required nor recommended |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | neither required nor recommended |
How Hard Is It To Get Into San Jose State?
Approximately 45% of accepted students are men and 55% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 62%, and the acceptance rate for women is 72%.
Average Test Scores
About 93% of students accepted to San Jose State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 500 and 610. Math scores were between 510 and 630.
Can I Afford San Jose State University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
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 San Jose State, approximately 33% of students took out student loans averaging $5,718 a year. That adds up to $22,872 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at San Jose State is 3.7%. 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.
San Jose State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 8,507 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 23,317 full-time undergraduates at San Jose State, 49% are male and 51% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of San Jose State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 8,625 |
Black or African American | 856 |
Hispanic or Latino | 6,972 |
White | 3,039 |
International Students | 1,805 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 2,020 |
Geographic Diversity
California students aren't the only ones who study at San Jose State University. At this time, 23 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 97 countries are represented at San Jose State. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, China, and Vietnam.
Online Learning at San Jose State University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at San Jose State has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 36th most popular in California for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.
Online Affordability Rankings of San Jose State
The following table shows how San Jose State is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.
Major | Tuition for In-State Students | Tuition for Out-of-State Students |
---|---|---|
Criminology | #7 | #19 |
Physical Sciences | #22 | #10 |
Computer Engineering | #22 | #22 |
Social Work | #25 | #31 |
Engineering | #34 | #58 |
Public Health | #34 | #40 |
Library & Information Science | #34 | #40 |
Library Science | #34 | #40 |
General Education | #45 | #83 |
Social Sciences | #49 | #88 |
Public Administration & Social Service | #70 | #115 |
Online Affordability Rankings of San Jose State Rankings
The following table shows how San Jose State 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 |
---|---|---|
Criminology | #4 | #7 |
Social Sciences | #7 | #34 |
Computer Information Systems | #22 | #67 |
Computer & Information Sciences | #23 | #86 |
Online Growth Rankings of San Jose State
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at San Jose State University was 342.7%. This is the #209 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at San Jose State regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of San Jose State majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Library & Information Science | 3% |
Library Science | 3% |
Social Sciences | 6% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at San Jose State ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at San Jose State.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Criminology | #4 | |
Library Science | #7 | |
Library & Information Science | #7 | |
Computer Information Systems | #16 | |
Social Sciences | #16 | |
Computer & Information Sciences | #30 |
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%.
San Jose State University Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
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
- Image Credit: By Daderot under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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