University of Nebraska at Kearney Overview

University of Nebraska at Kearney is a public institution situated in Kearney, Nebraska. The surrounding location of Kearney is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.

What Is University of Nebraska at Kearney Known For?

• The 5% student loan default rate at UNK is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• Although it may not be available for every major, the post-master's certificate is the highest award a student can attain at UNK.
• In 2017-2018, 72% of the faculty were full-time.

University of Nebraska at Kearney Rankings

According to our 2021 analysis, UNK is ranked #334 out of 2,320 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #4 out of 17 schools in Nebraska.

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 UNK.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#7	Best Music Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Fine & Studio Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Social Work Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#25	Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#30	Best History Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#45	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#60	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#64	Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#92	Best Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#5	Best Value Colleges for Education	College Factual
#18	Best Colleges for Education	College Factual
#44	Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	College Factual
#46	Best Colleges for Fine & Studio Arts	College Factual
#64	Best Teaching Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#64	Best Colleges for Teacher Education Grade Specific	College Factual

Where Is University of Nebraska at Kearney?

Contact details for UNK are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	2504 9Th Avenue, Kearney, NE 68849-1212
Phone:	308-865-8441
Website:	www.unk.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kearney-NE/University-of-Nebraska-at-Kearney/24920010058

How Do I Get Into UNK?

You can apply to UNK online at: www.unk.edu/admissions/apply.php

Admission Requirements for UNK

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into UNK?

The acceptance rate at University of Nebraska at Kearney is 82%. This means that is not quite as selective as some schools, but you'll still need to submit a good application if you want to be considered by the admissions department.

Approximately 42% of accepted students are men and 58% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 80%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.

Average Test Scores

About 1% of students accepted to UNK submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 555. Math scores were between 525 and 588.

UNK received ACT scores from 94% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 18 and 25. Math scores were between 18 and 25. Composite scores were between 19 and 25.

Can I Afford University of Nebraska at Kearney?

The overall average net price of UNK is $22,654. 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

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 UNK, approximately 51% of students took out student loans averaging $5,959 a year. That adds up to $23,836 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UNK is 4.6%. 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.

University of Nebraska at Kearney Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 4,429 undergraduate students at UNK, with 3,827 being full-time and 602 being part-time.

There are also 1,850 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 3,827 full-time undergraduates at UNK, 40% are male and 60% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of University of Nebraska at Kearney students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	34
Black or African American	81
Hispanic or Latino	474
White	2,890
International Students	233
Other Races/Ethnicities	115

Geographic Diversity

Nebraska students aren't the only ones who study at University of Nebraska at Kearney. At this time, 23 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 31 countries are represented at UNK. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Japan, China, and Oman.

Online Learning at University of Nebraska at Kearney

There are 9 bachelor’s degree and 14 master’s degree programs available online at UNK. In 2017-2018, 3,864 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 5th most popular in Nebraska for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.

Online Growth Rankings of UNK

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of Nebraska at Kearney was 6.4%. This is the #1,579 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at UNK regardless of major.

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

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Curriculum & Instruction	39%
Education	15%
English Language & Literature	5%
Family & Consumer Economics	2%
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences	2%
General English Literature	4%
History	13%
History	13%
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities	17%
Liberal Arts General Studies	17%
Special Education	43%
Student Counseling	2%
Teacher Education Grade Specific	13%
Writing Studies	7%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at UNK ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at UNK.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Fine & Studio Arts	#14
Romance Languages	#17
General Biology	#19
Music	#19
Geography & Cartography	#30
Foreign Languages & Linguistics	#31
General English Literature	#35
Biological & Biomedical Sciences	#36
Sociology	#37
Student Counseling	#38
History	#43
History	#43
Writing Studies	#49
Social Work	#51
Visual & Performing Arts	#67
English Language & Literature	#78
Curriculum & Instruction	#94
Special Education	#133
Social Sciences	#138
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#138
Public Administration & Social Service	#144
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#186
Educational Administration	#186
Criminal Justice & Corrections	#273
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	#311
Education	#442

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%.

University of Nebraska at Kearney Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	187	0	11	198
Teacher Education Grade Specific	128	0	18	146
General Biology	30	0	67	97
Teacher Education Subject Specific	23	0	63	86
Special Education	30	0	39	69
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	67	67
History	19	0	43	62
Educational Administration	0	10	42	52
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	52	0	0	52
Student Counseling	0	15	36	51
Fine & Studio Arts	14	0	37	51
Family & Consumer Economics	47	0	0	47
General Psychology	39	0	0	39
Communication Sciences	18	0	16	34
Social Work	29	0	0	29
Allied Health Professions	28	0	0	28
General English Literature	21	0	6	27
Criminal Justice & Corrections	25	0	0	25
Liberal Arts General Studies	24	0	0	24
Health & Physical Education	20	0	0	20
Agricultural Economics & Business	17	0	0	17
Journalism	17	0	0	17
Romance Languages	10	0	6	16
Computer Information Systems	14	0	0	14
Writing Studies	14	0	0	14
Music	6	0	5	11
Political Science & Government	8	0	0	8
Mathematics	6	0	0	6
Chemistry	5	0	0	5
Drama & Theater Arts	4	0	0	4
International Relations & National Security	3	0	0	3
Sociology	3	0	0	3
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	2	0	0	2
Physics	2	0	0	2
Economics	2	0	0	2
Geography & Cartography	2	0	0	2
Philosophy	1	0	0	1
TOTAL	850	25	456	1,331

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 Ammodramus under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.