Seattle Pacific University Overview

Seattle Pacific University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Seattle, Washington. The city atmosphere of Seattle makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

What Is Seattle Pacific University Known For?

• Students at SPU have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The highest award offered at SPU is the doctor's degree.
• In 2017-2018, 50% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, SPU bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $49,100 a year. That's about 20% more than their peers at other schools.
• The average SPU student graduates in 4.3 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Seattle Pacific University Rankings

We have ranked SPU as #359 out of 2,587 colleges and universities in the country in our 2022 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. Out of the 58 colleges in Washington, it is ranked at #7.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

SPU has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#17	Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#59	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#175	Best Master’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 SPU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#7	Best Student Counseling Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best General Family & Consumer Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Instructional Media Design Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#33	Best Family, Consumer & Human Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best Special Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#43	Best Educational Administration Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#57	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#65	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards SPU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#18	Best Student Counseling Schools	College Factual
#45	Best General Education Schools	College Factual
#59	Best Special Education Schools	College Factual
#78	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#86	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Schools	College Factual
#133	Best Education Schools	College Factual

Where Is Seattle Pacific University?

Contact details for SPU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	3307 3Rd Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119-1997
Phone:	206-281-2000
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/seattle.pacific.university
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/SeattlePacific

How Do I Get Into SPU?

You can apply to SPU online at: https://spu.edu/undergraduate-admissions/apply

Admission Requirements for SPU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into SPU?

With an acceptance rate of 91%, SPU is fairly easy to get into, but you must be sure to submit the required materials.

Approximately 27% of accepted students are men and 73% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 88%, and the acceptance rate for women is 92%.

Average Test Scores

About 80% of students accepted to SPU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 590. Math scores were between 500 and 570.

SPU received ACT scores from 31% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 19 and 28. Math scores were between 18 and 25. Composite scores were between 20 and 27.

Can I Afford Seattle Pacific University?

The overall average net price of SPU is $39,749. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

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 SPU, approximately 62% of students took out student loans averaging $6,507 a year. That adds up to $26,028 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SPU is 2.0%. 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.

Seattle Pacific University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,702 undergraduate students at SPU, with 2,606 being full-time and 96 being part-time.

There are also 899 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,606 full-time undergraduates at SPU, 32% are male and 68% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Seattle Pacific University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	379
Black or African American	174
Hispanic or Latino	407
White	1,196
International Students	133
Other Races/Ethnicities	317

Geographic Diversity

Washington students aren't the only ones who study at Seattle Pacific University. At this time, 26 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 53 countries are represented at SPU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.

Online Learning at Seattle Pacific University

In 2019-2020, 3,389 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

Online Growth Rankings of SPU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Seattle Pacific University was 382.9%. This is the #184 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at SPU regardless of major.

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%.

Seattle Pacific University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Undergraduate Certificate	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Teacher Education Grade Specific	34	0	90	78	0	202
General Business/Commerce	0	70	0	5	0	75
General Psychology	0	64	0	10	0	74
Educational Administration	0	0	38	21	4	63
Student Counseling	0	0	23	24	3	50
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	0	23	21	44
Nursing	0	32	0	1	9	42
Design & Applied Arts	0	33	0	0	0	33
Economics	0	31	0	0	0	31
Communication & Media Studies	0	29	0	0	0	29
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	0	29	0	29
Health & Physical Education	0	27	0	0	0	27
Computer Science	0	26	0	0	0	26
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	12	0	14	0	26
General English Literature	0	25	0	0	0	25
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	0	23	0	0	0	23
General Education	0	15	0	2	4	21
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	3	0	16	0	19
General Engineering	0	19	0	0	0	19
Fine & Studio Arts	0	19	0	0	0	19
Mechanical Engineering	0	18	0	0	0	18
Sociology	0	18	0	0	0	18
Nutrition Science	0	17	0	0	0	17
Accounting	0	15	0	0	0	15
Electrical Engineering	0	13	0	0	0	13
Writing Studies	0	0	0	12	0	12
Ethnic Studies	0	12	0	0	0	12
Criminal Justice & Corrections	0	12	0	0	0	12
Business Administration & Management	0	0	0	11	0	11
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	0	11	0	0	0	11
Special Education	0	11	0	0	0	11
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	0	10	0	0	0	10
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	10	0	0	0	10
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	10	0	0	0	10
Political Science & Government	0	10	0	0	0	10
Human Development & Family Studies	0	9	0	0	0	9
Health/Medical Prep Programs	0	9	0	0	0	9
Mathematics	0	9	0	0	0	9
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	0	8	0	0	0	8
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	8	0	0	0	8
Area Studies	0	8	0	0	0	8
History	0	8	0	0	0	8
General Biology	0	7	0	0	0	7
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	0	7	0	0	0	7
Instructional Media Design	0	0	0	7	0	7
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	0	7	0	0	0	7
Chemistry	0	7	0	0	0	7
Music	0	7	0	0	0	7
Information Technology	0	2	0	4	0	6
Computer Engineering	0	5	0	0	0	5
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	5	0	0	0	5
Computer Information Systems	0	0	0	3	0	3
Applied Mathematics	0	3	0	0	0	3
Drama & Theater Arts	0	3	0	0	0	3
General Family & Consumer Sciences	0	2	0	0	0	2
Physics	0	2	0	0	0	2
General Visual & Performing Arts	0	2	0	0	0	2
Computer Software & Applications	0	0	0	1	0	1
Classical Languages & Literature	0	1	0	0	0	1
Philosophy	0	1	0	0	0	1
Urban Studies	0	1	0	0	0	1
Biblical Studies	0	0	0	1	0	1
TOTAL	34	716	151	262	41	1,204

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 Westlake78 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.