Saint Edward’s University

Saint Edward’s University in Austin Texas is an independent Catholic college of about 2700 undergraduate students. Perhaps you haven’t heard of it, but US News and World Report ranked it #5 Best Regional University in the West, #3 Best Value School in the West, and #4 Best Colleges for Veterans in 2025, so let’s dig in and find out why!

In addition to the classic liberal arts majors you might expect, St. Edwards offers majors in several areas within Business, Digital Storytelling and Content Creation, Kinesiology, Leadership and Social Justice, Ethics and Leadership, Environmental Chemistry, Video Game Design, Medical Laboratory Science, and Animation. Additionally, St. Edward’s opened the new School of Health Sciences in 2024, launching both a BSN as well as an ABSN Nursing program. The BSN is not direct-admit, however; students must apply into it once they’re completed prerequisite coursework. St. Edward’s is also in the process of developing a direct entry OTD (Doctorate in Occupational Therapy) program – stay tuned!

In July of 2025, St. Edwards University announced that they had secured more than $10.8 million in donations during the past academic year. In these times of concern for small liberal arts colleges, as we’re seeing some close their doors, this is heartening. The funds are earmarked to support the new School of Health Sciences, student initiatives including campus ministry, as well as scholarships for first-gen, migrant, and Pell-eligible students, as well as those studying finance. In fact, The College Assistance Migrant Program here is the longest continuous program of its kind in the nation. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why US News and World Report also ranked St. Edwards #7 for Social Mobility.

The campus is quite beautiful, and students are required to live there for 2 years. After that, most move off. We were told that the campus is quiet on weekends – many students go downtown, which is three miles away. The all-in price is under $70K, and merit scholarships are up to $30K.

St. Edward’s seems like a very warm and welcoming community that’s headed in the right direction. My only cause for pause was that the library has no books – they gave them all away during the pandemic, and don’t plan to replace them. Perhaps we’re headed into a future when all learning will be on the computer screen, but as a book lover, I hate to see this, and don’t know if it’s the wave of the future or an idiosyncrasy unique to St. Edward’s.