Private for-profit · Community college

Southwest University at El Paso

El Paso, Texas · Large city

0%
Transfer rate
$16,906
Avg net price
59%
Grad / completion
$29,648
Median earnings

Southwest University at El Paso is a private for-profit associate-granting institution in El Paso, Texas (large city setting), enrolling 2,073 undergraduates. Admission is open to all applicants.

Private for-profitMidsize · 2,073 undergradsLarge city

About El Paso, Texas

El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, as evidenced by Folsom points from hunter-gatherers found at Hueco Tanks. This suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation. The earliest known cultures in the region were maize farmers. The culture of El Paso, Texas is influenced heavily by the mixing of American and Mexican cultures, due to the city's position on the U.S. Mexico border, its large Chicano population, and its history as part of Hispanic America and Mexico. (Wikipedia)

Setting
Large city
Highest degree offered
Bachelor's
Nearest big city
5 miles to El Paso, TX
To the ocean
365 miles
Nearest airport
3 miles to El Paso (ELP) · major hub

How Southwest University at El Paso compares

Graduation rate59%

Higher than 48% · #143 of 253 in Texas

First-year retention64%

Higher than 31%

Earnings, 10 years after entry$29,648

Higher than 30% · #134 of 206 in Texas

Average net price$16,906

Cheaper than 44% · #115 cheapest of 252 in Texas

Median debt at graduation$20,000

Lower than 6%

Student–faculty ratio20 : 1

Lower than 29%

Undergraduate enrollment2,073

Larger than 82%

Percentiles compare Southwest University at El Paso with the nation's 3,519 two-year and certificate schools, among schools reporting each statistic. State ranks count two-year and certificate schools in Texas.

Student body

Undergraduate vs. graduate

2,130students
  • Undergraduate2,07397%
  • Graduate573%

Undergraduates by gender

2,073undergrads
  • Women1,25060%
  • Men82340%

Undergraduates by race / ethnicity

  • White6.4%
  • Black6.3%
  • Hispanic87%
  • Asian0.7%

Graduate gender splits aren't published in this data, so the gender chart covers undergraduates only.

By the numbers

Undergraduate enrollment
2,073
Graduate enrollment
57
Student–faculty ratio
20 : 1
Pell Grant recipients
82%
First-generation students
51%
Students over 25
59%
Median family income
$16,246
Avg faculty salary (academic year)
$35,640

Colleges don't publish true class-size data; student–faculty ratio (IPEDS) is the closest public measure of it.

Cost

In-state tuition
$16,000
Room & board
Books & supplies
$1,400
Total cost of attendance
$23,987
Average net price
$16,906

Net price is the total cost minus grants and scholarships — what students actually pay. It varies sharply by family income; see the breakdown below.

Outcomes

Graduated (within 6 years)
59%
Graduated on time (4 years)
51%
First-year retention
64%
Transferred to another college
0%
Median earnings, 6 years after entry
$29,611
Median earnings, 10 years after entry
$29,648
Median debt at graduation
$20,000
Students with federal loans
76%
Paying down their loans (1 year in)
16%

About 8% of students who finish here need more than four years — each extra year adds roughly another year of tuition and living costs.

Graduating on time

By student background (4 years)

All students
51%
Low-income (Pell)
67%
First-generation
67%

When these bars run close together, students from every background tend to finish at similar rates — a sign the school supports the ~30% who are first-gen or low-income.

Campus life & athletics

On-campus housing
No
Application fee
Free

Housing and fees: IPEDS 2023–24. Athletics rosters: Equity in Athletics data, 2024–25. Dorm capacity can include graduate and family housing, so the share of undergrads can top 100%.

Campus safety

Safety grade
A
Reported offenses per 1,000 students
0.0 / year
Violent offenses (2022–2024)
0
Property offenses (2022–2024)
0

On-campus criminal offenses reported under the Clery Act, 2022–2024, across 1 campus (2,130 students). Counts reflect reports, not convictions — schools with strong reporting cultures often show more, so a higher count doesn't simply mean a more dangerous campus.

What you'll actually pay, by family income

Average net price (total cost minus grants and scholarships) paid by aided students in each family-income band.

< $30k
$16,569
$30–48k
$20,912
$48–75k
$75–110k
$110k+

College Scorecard / IPEDS, most recent year. Family income is total household income; net price covers tuition, fees, room, board and supplies after grant aid, for students receiving federal aid.

Four-year (or more) true cost

Net price for your family's income, projected across the time it actually takes students here to graduate.

Est. total to a degree
$69,789

$16,569/year × about 4.2 years — most students here don't finish in exactly four, and each extra term adds cost. A planning estimate from net-price and graduation-timing data, not a bill.

Does the school pay you to attend?

Grant aid from the school's own funds — the discount off sticker, on top of any federal or state help.

1%
of first-years get a grant from the school
$7,951
average award, among those who get one

Modest institutional aid: 1% of freshmen get a grant from the school, averaging $7,951. Most of what lowers the price here is federal or state money, not the school's own funds.

Blends need-based and merit aid — IPEDS doesn't split the two, so a high number can mean generous merit scholarships, deep need-based aid, or both. Figures cover 678 full-time first-year undergraduates, 2022–23. Source: IPEDS Student Financial Aid.

Is it worth it?

A rough return-on-investment read from what graduates earn versus what they borrow.

Median earnings (10 years)
$29,648
Typical debt at graduation
$20,000
Debt vs. one year's pay
67%
Out-earn a HS grad
26%

Typical debt would take roughly 6.7 years to repay at about a tenth of median earnings.

Weigh it value

The payoff is less clear-cut here — weigh the debt against the earnings and your intended field before borrowing heavily.

Earnings are the College Scorecard median for former students (working, not enrolled) 10 years after entry — not a guarantee, and they vary a lot by major. Debt is the median federal loan balance at graduation.

The pay gap here

Median earnings 10 years after entry, split by gender.

Women
$28,272
Men
$31,902

Men out-earn women by $3,630 (13%) a decade out.

Federal figures for former students working and not enrolled, 10 years after they first entered. A gap this wide usually reflects which majors men and women here tend to choose — not different pay for the same job.

Campus climate

Summer high
97°F
Winter low
34°F
Annual rain
8.8″
Annual snow
2.8″

Average temperature

HighLow
30°70°110°JFMAMJJASOND

Average precipitation (inches)

0.00.81.7JFMAMJJASOND

NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals, EL Paso Intl AP, TX US station (2.7 mi from campus).

Median earnings of this school's own graduates 1 and 5 years after finishing each program, and median federal-loan debt at completion (College Scorecard). Small programs are privacy-suppressed (—). Click a major to compare colleges nationally.

Colleges similar to Southwest University at El Paso

Schools with a comparable profile — size, selectivity, cost, and graduate outcomes. Compare Southwest University at El Paso side by side →

Colleges near Southwest University at El Paso

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard (most recent cohorts), IPEDS institutional characteristics, Equity in Athletics (EADA) data, Clery Act Campus Safety and Security data, and NOAA US Climate Normals. Distances are straight-line from campus coordinates. Percentiles compare schools of the same level (four-year vs. two-year) that report each statistic.