Columbia Southern University
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Overview
Founded in 1993, Columbia Southern University in a town that is within 10 miles of an urban area. It is in the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley AL area.
Highlights
Undergraduate program with the highest reported starting salary (): Natural Resources Conservation and Research
Largest undergraduate program (1,058): Business Administration and Management
Address
21982 University Lane
Orange Beach, AL 36561
www.columbiasouthern.edu
Additional links
SOURCES:
Accreditation:
good
Institutional Control
Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit organization and is related to other schools.
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Accreditation
Accreditation provides important oversight over a school's instructional practices and institutional stability.
Columbia Southern University holds an accreditation from one of the national accreditors. Credits earned from the national accreditors are often not accepted by schools holding the more prestigious regional accreditation, and it's important to verify that your credits will transfer if you are considering an eventual switch to another school.
Accreditation History
Distance Education Accrediting Commission (Accredited January 12, 2001 - present)
  • The accreditation was recently renewed on January 29, 2021.
  • The next accreditation review is scheduled for January 31, 2026.
Undergraduate Students
Not all students attend their first college full time to completion. While some schools are focused on those that population, many schools focus on transfer and or part time students. What types of of student does this school support.
Full-time first-time students
Full-time transfer students
Part-time first-time students
Part-time transfer students
SOURCES:
Admissions
Open Admissions
Columbia Southern University is an open admissions school and accepts any student who applies.
SOURCES:
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Admissions Details
Here are some important dates and little tidbits. Please double-check this information on the Columbia Southern University's webpage for the most up-to-date and accurate answers! We update this information with each school's annual reporting, but information can change unexpectedly. Select any item to view the details.
Admissions Criteria & Qualifications
Admissions Criteria & Qualifications
Application Fee & Common App
Application Fee & Common App
Columbia Southern University has an undergraduate application fee of $0. We did not find Columbia Southern University on the Common Application site. Keep in mind that it never hurts to inquire with an Admissions office to see whether they might be willing to waive your application fee.
Credits accepted from new students
Credits accepted from new students
Columbia Southern University accepts the following credits:
  • Open admission (school accepts any student who applies)
  • Advanced placement (AP) credits
Programs
Columbia Southern University program offerings
What award level are you pursuing?
Bachelor's Degree
Select a degree to see the details, or use the sankey below to explore the options.
Select a degree
Order degrees by.
Program Size (Completions)
Columbia Southern UniversityBusiness Administration a...Occupational Safety and H...Fire Services Administrat...Criminal Justice and Poli...Health/Health Care Admini...Human Resources Managemen...Information TechnologyEnvironmental StudiesPsychiatric and Mental He...Organizational LeadershipAll other degreesTop 10 matching degrees
Business
Career
Community Services
Healthcare
Quantitative/Technology
Sciences
Costs
Undergraduate costs
Here's a quick summary of costs to attend Columbia Southern University. You will find the most up-to-date information at their website for admissions.
View
All
Charge
Annual fees
Annual tuition
Estimated books and supplies
Miscellaneous (living off campus)
Miscellaneous (living with family)
Off-campus room and board
Per-credit charges
Cost
$135
$5,520
$704
$4,080
$4,080
$6,844
$230
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Net price: the best estimate for the cost to attend
Most schools publish tuition rates that give them room to offer both scholarships and financial aid where applicable. Your best estimate of what might pay is to see what others with similar family incomes have paid. A more tailored and accurate estimate is available at this school's net price calculator.
Understanding net price

With their net price calculators, many colleges and universities give an idea of what merit-based aid might accompany need-based aid. For schools that share such data, we also provide financial aid data in the Finanical Aid sections.

There are some caveats to consider when using the net price estimates:

  • The net price calculation is weighted by this school's proportion of students living on- and off-campus and this school's estimate of off-campus costs, which may cause the net price methodology be a bit inconsistent from school to school.
  • Parental income and student financial aid eligibility is sometimes more complicated than the simple family income number reported here.
  • The net price calculation for all students is inclusive of students who received any institutional or government aid, but at the family income levels the net price only considers the tuition paid by those who qualified for federal aid.

You can get a little better guess at what you would pay by using this school's net price calculator.

Percentage of students receiving any aid
The donut, based on 213 full-time first-time degree seeking students at Columbia Southern University, shows the percentage of those who received any financial aid (including merit-based scholarships), subdivided by family income.
96%
Aid type and family income
Federal: $0-30K
Federal: $30K-48K
Federal: $48K-75K
Federal: $75K-110K
Federal: Above $110K
Only institutional
Net price by family income
All Incomes
Let's look over the past few years at what freshmen who received any financial aid actually paid for tuition, fees, books, and living expenses on average, and how that compares to the tuition usually paid for other private universities in your context group. Public universities only report net price for in-state students.
20112012201320142015201620172018$0$10,000$20,000$30,000$40,000
Chart explanation
Columbia Southern University
On the blue curve, we see how the net annual cost to attend Columbia Southern University has changed over the years.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the net price for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Not so much?
Historic Annual Costs
See how this school's published costs have changed over the years, and how their cost trends compare with other private schools.
Published costs may have little to do with what you actually pay

It's important to remember that a school's published costs may not be indicative of what it will actually cost to attend. Time magazine wrote about this in their article Yes, you can get a college to cut its tuition price. Nonetheless, this inflation-adjusted look at the historic annual costs for tuition, fees, books, and supplies can give you an idea of the costs you might expect in the coming years. Comparing the total costs inclusive of room and board (if applicable) with the annual net price estimates in the previous tab will help you determine the financial aid package to expect.

Private and public universities' charges are difficult to compare due to the in-state and out-of-state price differences of public universities, and therefore we only compare Columbia Southern University to other private schools within your chosen context group.

Undergraduate tuition, fees, books, and supplies over time
20122013201420152016201720182019$0$10,000$20,000$30,000$40,000$50,000
Chart explanation
Columbia Southern University
On the blue curve, we see how the published annual cost to attend Columbia Southern University has changed over the years.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the annual cost for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Financial Aid
Financial aid overview

Understanding the rules and process that determine who gets financial aid can be intimidating. Here are some quick links to help:

  • Visit Columbia Southern University's Net Price Calculator for the most accurate estimate of your anticipated costs. Every school publishes a Net Price Calculator that does its best to give you a fair estimate of what you might expect to pay. Many calculators consider your high school record as part of the calculation. This will be far more accurate than any of the averages or published tuition values that you see here.
  • FederalStudentAid, a government site that will walk you through the federal financial aid process. There are a number of kinds of student loans and other aid, and this site can walk you through all of the choices you will need to make.

Undergraduate Outcomes
Graduation Rate
Approximately 45% of undergraduate students were full-time with about 9% of them attending college for the first time. In the last reporting year, 49% of students, including those who were part-time or transfer students, received a degree within 8 years.
49%
Time to complete
4 years
6 years
8 years
Context: Graduation rate
These numbers reflect eight-year graduation rates for all degrees at the colleges and universities in your chosen context group. This reporting is for undergraduate students inclusive of transfer students and full/part-time students.
SOURCES:
Loan Status
This donut shows the percentage of students who are in good standing (green) in repaying any federal student loans five years after leaving Columbia Southern University.
Status of loans
Closed (fully paid)
Currently paying
Deferred for miliary or school
Suspended (usually for hardship)
More than 90 days late in paying
In default
Another status not released
Context: Loans with good standing
This performance is near the middle of the context schools.
Fewer details
Are students graduating on time?
Let us tell you all about low graduation rates!

Across the country, graduation rates are surprisingly low. In fact, Forbes Magazine suggests that they are unacceptably low. However, from another point of view, sometimes graduation rates simply reflect the relative preparation of the students who enter. Colleges with a mission to help people coming from less advantaged backgrounds, such as first-generation and low-income students, may have low graduation rates despite relatively strong outcomes for students who face many obstacles to success. Without the context provided in these views of completion rates, it can be tricky to separate predatory schools that take financial advantage of under-prepared students from those that are actively seeking to encourage and help those students.

For the consumer choosing a school, once you have narrowed your list to those schools that you can afford and that seem likely to admit you, consider the outcome measures in this section and choose the specific measures that best describe your plans. Very simply, schools with high graduation rates and high loan repayment rates will likely give you the best opportunity to succeed.

Context: the impact of wealth and transfer status on degree completion
We took a close look lagging success for students with financial need in a case study. Here's a chance to compare schools based on student successes with a better appreciation of how circumstances may impact success. One word of caution: the statistics for some categories may consist of only a handful of students -- see the details by hovering or long-pressing on the bars.
Full-time first-time students
Full-time transfer students
Part-time first-time students
Part-time transfer students
Choose a student group
Full-time first-time students
Full-time transfer students
Part-time first-time students
Part-time transfer students
Percentage with Pell Grants
42%
Years after enrolling.
4
6
8
Full-time first-time students who received an award within 8 years after enrolling
33%34%35%0%50%100%Non-PellPellAll
Context and trends: Repayment Rate
How much progress do you think you'll be able to make towards paying down your college loans seven years after leaving school? In our research, we discovered that a surprisingly large number of students don't default on their loans, but also aren't making progress in paying down their principal amount. The percentages here count alumni who have decreased their loan amounts by at least $1.
Years after leaving school.
7
5
3
2015201640%50%60%70%80%90%Former students with decreased loan principal
Chart explanation
Columbia Southern University
On the blue curve, we see the percentage of alumni from Columbia Southern University who have successfully reduced their federal school loans by at least $1 by the date shown, which is 7 years after leaving the school.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the loan repayment rate for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Context and trends: are the loan default rates as small as possible?
The default rate is the percentage of students who are already delinquent on their loans within three years of leaving the school. If a school has a high default rate, that sends an alarm out that the students' educations are not sufficient to earn enough to repay those loans. Read below for details on the typical loan burden, and keep in mind that a low default rate may be more important than loan amounts in predicting your future success.
201420152016201720180%5%10%15%20%Former students with loan payment failure
Chart explanation
Columbia Southern University
On the blue curve, we see the percentage of alumni from Columbia Southern University who have defaulted on their federal school loans within 3 years ending on the date shown.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the 3-year loan default rate for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Loan burden
At Columbia Southern University, 59% of full-time degree-seeking freshmen receive federal student loans, averaging $6,329 each in just the freshman year. We have much more details about the full loan burden students experience in our Cost and Financial Aid Section.
Context: Percentage of freshmen with federal loans
59%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Average freshman federal loan amount
$6,329$4,000$5,000$6,000$7,000$8,000
Not so much?
Alumni earnings compared to same-aged Americans
The blue curve shows the earnings of this school's alumni -- so a high curve indicates this school is setting its students up for success!
More information about earnings data

How might your earnings compare with other people your age? Opportunity Insights used IRS data to track almost every person born in the US in the years 1980 to 1991, and they ranked the mean (average) 2014 earnings of students who attended Columbia Southern University in comparison to all people in the US the same age. Although this data is now a little old, the scope of this project was awesome and gives us a glimpse at alumni performance that we cannot find until a new study of this incredible magnitude is performed.

You might notice a little earnings dip at young ages for some of the top bachelor's institutions. This coincides with the years that many alumni may be in graduate school and earning less.

232425262728293031323334Approximate former student age4050607080Average earnings percentile
Chart explanation
Columbia Southern University
In the blue curve, we see how the average earnings percentile for this school changes as its alumni age as compared to like-aged Americans without regard to their educational background.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of these average alumni earnings percentiles for context schools: dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools and light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Wealth mobility at Columbia Southern University
We may wonder if, as a result of attending a given college, we will have a better chance for higher earnings. Opportunity Insights sought to answer this question by following the wealth story of every student for whom income information was available.
Learn more about the mobility study
How does wealth change after attendance?

Opportunity Insights studied groups of all children born in the US in the same year for each birth year from 1980 to 1991. This grouping included every single US child who had a valid SSN or ITIN (tax identification number) and could be linked to parents with non-negative income.

Family Income

The incomes of all families in a birth year group are measured when the child is 15-19 and these incomes are averaged. The calculated incomes from all families in the group were arranged from smallest to largest, and divided into five groups of equal size. On the left of the diagram, you can see the relative distribution of Columbia Southern University's students between the family income divided into fifths formed by looking at the entire US group.

Individual Student Earnings

In 2014, all people from the same birth year were divided into a new set of five groups that were determined by their individual labor earnings for that year. The students from this birth year who primarily attended Columbia Southern University between the ages of 19 and 22 were divided into these five groups, and the percent in each group is shown on the right of the diagram.

The diagram lets you see the proportion in each original income group who travel to each earnings group, and provides some insight into the likelihood of financial success after attendance.

If you'd like to understand the nitty gritty details of this interesting data, be sure to check out the well-written Opportunity Insights report by selecting SOURCES under the figure.

Below, we can see the percentage from each initial family wealth group who attend this college, and also the alumni's relative wealth later. Do students entering college from the bottom twenty percent of family income end up making it to a higher level? Do the top twenty percent stay at the top? Follow the colors, left to right, and see for yourself.
$20,400$38,800$67,400$111,700$400$10,100$18,700$29,900Lowest 20%Second-lowestMiddleSecond-highestHighest 20%Highest 20%Second-highestMiddleSecond-lowest Lowest 20%Family IncomeStudent Income
Classroom Experience
Student attention at Columbia Southern University
Schools are required to report the ratio of students per instructor, but look for a small number of students for every full-time instructor as your best indicator of personal attention and a modern well-integrated curriculum.
10762020406080100120Full-time inst.Any inst.
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Full-time and long-term instructors at Columbia Southern University
Full-time faculty are mostly likely to be on campus and available for interaction, and to craft up-to-date courses and programs. Columbia Southern University has 30% full-time instructors, and 77% of the context schools have a higher percentage of full-time instructors. Faculty with multi-year contracts provide additional stability and commitment to the school and its students.Within the full-time instructors at Columbia Southern University, none have multi-year employment contracts. Of the context schools, 72% have instructors with multi-year contracts.
Full-time instructors
30%
Long-term instructors
0%
SOURCES:
Not so much?
Faculty Diversity
Here's an opportunity to explore the faculty's diversity. For many schools, attracting a diverse teaching faculty can be a challenge. It's important to judge their success with the reality check of what their peer schools have accomplished.
Number of full-time instructors
The chart shows male instructors to the left, and female to the right, with the races/origins included along the bars. Select the context graph to see how this diversity profile compares to the schools that interest you.
Not ReportedMultiracialAsianHispanicBlackWhite020406080100Men020406080100Women
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Housing
No Student Housing Available
This school does not report any housing for students.
SOURCES:
Activities and Services
Undergraduate services offered
  • Academic/career counseling services
SOURCES:
Programs for Veterans
If you are a veteran, it's worth digging around to find a military-friendly campus. We think this article about how colleges might help veterans might be a good starting point for questions to ask the Admissions office before you choose to attend. It's also good to be aware that many for-profit schools are behaving as predators, hungry for GI Bill dollars. Watching out for those schools is no different for veterans than for all students: judge very critically using our "Student Satisfaction and Success" tab for undergraduate programs. We wish we had the same data to support graduate programs; however, we think the undergraduate data is a good starting point for judging overall quality.
  • Credit for Military Training
  • Dedicated point of contact for support services for veterans, military servicemembers, and their families
  • Member of Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges
  • Recognized student veteran organization
  • Yellow Ribbon Program
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Research
The library is the backbone of academic learning and research

A rigorous academic program requires that students and faculty alike are engaging in independent research, and that activity requires strong library support. You can get some useful information here:

  • How strong and how balanced between traditional physical books and easily-accessed (but expensive) electronic journals and other resources is this library?
  • How much is this library borrowing from other libraries? The number of interlibrary loans received can indicate the school's commitment to getting the resources on-campus researchers need, and also of the research activity on campus.
  • How big a resource is this library to other libraries? A large number of outgoing interlibrary loans speaks highly of the value of its content.

The presence of a library in and of itself is a good thing. Increasingly, libraries are comfortable and inviting spaces for individual and group study sessions. Librarians can be incredibly friendly guides in your quest to find materials that aid your learning.

Comparison of library resources per student
How do the per-student library resources at Columbia Southern University compare to other schools?
000200400600PhysicalElectronic
Comparison of library loans per student
A small library could make up for a small collection by allowing a large number of interlibrary loans to be received. An excellent library can show its strength by its number of loans given.
0.000.000.001.002.00LoanedReceived
SOURCES:
Research funding: the best indicator of post-baccalaureate academic rigor
Any school that reports at least $150,000 in research and development expenditures in a given year should have submitted out the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey to the National Science Foundation (NSF). We did not find HERD data for $Columbia Southern University, so there would at most modest graduate-level academic scholarship campus-wide.
Student Body
Undergraduate Study Types
About 55% of undergraduate students are full-time. About 100% of undergraduate students take all of their courses via distance education, while another 0% take some courses online.
Undergraduate Full-time
55%
Undergraduate Online classes
100%
SOURCES:
Context: Student body size
Columbia Southern University enrolled 37,306 students over the past academic year. The the student body size is larger than 96% of the context schools.
SOURCES:
Undergraduate student gender
Is the gender balance of Columbia Southern University undergraduate students important to you? You can see the breakdown in this donut chart.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
Undergraduate student race/origin
Columbia Southern University reports that 27% of undergraduate students are minority, which is near the middle of the context schools. Similarly, this school's 0.1% of international students is near the middle proportion of international students within the context schools.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Context: Gender Balance
It is very difficult for many types of schools to achieve a gender balance, and this context is valuable in evaluating the balance at Columbia Southern University.
63%37%20%40%60%80%MenWomen
SOURCES:
Context: Percentage of women
With 37% women undergraduate students, Columbia Southern University has a lower percentage of women than 94% of context schools.
SOURCES:
Context: Undergraduate student race/origin
Here is how Columbia Southern University compares to the rest of the context group in terms of diversity in the student race and origin.
17%51%5%2%1%0%3%21%0%0%20%40%60%80%100%Pacific IslanderInternationalAmerican IndianAsianMultiracialHispanicBlackNot ReportedWhite
Freshman residences

A high proportion of international and out-of-state students speaks to reputation and offers an opportunity for diverse interactions in and out of class.

Freshman residence
In-state
Out-of-state
International
Not Reported
SOURCES:
Undergraduate student age distribution
The age distribution at a school can tell you a lot about its mission. If you're looking for a traditional undergraduate experience, you may prefer to see students who are mostly younger than 25 (lighter shades), but if you want support as a returning student, a large number of students 25 and older (darker shades) may better suit your needs.
Age range
Under 18
18-19
20-21
22-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-49
50-64
65 and over
SOURCES:
School Finances
Columbia Southern University: What its budget can tell you about classroom quality
Where a school spends and collects its money can suggest a lot about the educational experience it offers. The tabs below offer a look at spending that is important for the quality of your experience if you attend.
Instructional spending
Student services spending
Context and trends: Instructional expenditures per student
Instructional expenses are primarily the salary and benefits paid to the heart of a school: its full-time instructors. High expenditures in this area suggest care in hiring enough highly qualified full-time faculty to provide personal attention and up-to-date subject-area excellence.
20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018$0$5,000$10,000$15,000$20,000
Chart explanation
Columbia Southern University
On the blue curve, we see how the instructional expenses per student at Columbia Southern University have changed over the years.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the instructional expenses per student for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
All values have been adjusted for inflation. Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Fewer details
Does incoming revenue consistently cover expenses?

Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit school, meaning that its annual goal is to make a profit for its shareholders. The other types of schools are public or not-for-profit, and profit is not a goal.

Total revenue and expenses by category
We divided revenue and expenses for Columbia Southern University into categories to give some insight to what may have influenced peaks and ditches in the chart above. The purple shades correspond most directly to student education. The blue shades, auxiliary expenses and revenue, are often related to room and board. We show investment gains and losses in apricot.
20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018$0$20M$40M$60M$80M$100M$120MRevenue$0$20M$40M$60M$80M$100M$120MExpense
Investment gains
Auxiliary revenue
Tuition and fees revenue
Government appropriations etc.
Other revenue
Auxilliary expenses
Instructional expenses
Student services expenses
Academic & instructional support, student services expenses
Academic support expenses
Institutional support expenses
Public service expenses
Other expenses