College profile
Portland State University
OR · Public · Large city · 8,877 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Top feeder high schools: Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus (2.4), Orange County School of the Arts (1), Westwood High School (1), Punahou School (0.5), Hawaii Preparatory Academy (0.2). Graduates per class year, from each high school's own published list. 5 high schools' lists name Portland State University; every one is ranked below.
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $113,889 four years out; music grads about $34,160 — a 3.3× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 7× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$21,590/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$57,906/yr) still runs about 7× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Portland State University?
The high schools sending the most graduates per class year to Portland State University, from each school's own published list: Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus (2.4), Orange County School of the Arts (1), Westwood High School (1), Punahou School (0.5), Hawaii Preparatory Academy (0.2). 5 high schools' lists name Portland State University.
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
All 5 schools, with the class years each list covers
How this is counted
5 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Portland State University on it. Between them they printed 22 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Portland State University, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
Is my high school on this list?
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
All 4 schools, with the class years each list covers
How this is counted
4 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Portland State University on it. Between them they printed 8 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Portland State University, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 9 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Affordable — net price averages ~$9,552/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- In-state residents (tuition ~$11,679 — major value play)
- Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Social Sciences (the two biggest majors)
- Research-curious students (R2 — active research output)
The reality
- Out-of-state tuition is 2.7× the in-state rate
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Portland State University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Portland State University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$493K ahead at full price +$541K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Portland State University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Portland State University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Portland State University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $113,889 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $101,905 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | $94,223 |
| Physics. | $87,488 |
| Civil Engineering. | $86,084 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $79,727 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $77,226 |
| Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology. | $75,765 |
| Economics. | $75,482 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $71,621 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Portland State University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Portland State University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
Or compare any college side-by-side
Deciding on Portland State University?
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Get your child's odds at Portland State University →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
Related reading
States · October 2026
States · October 2026
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantPortland State University is a public four-year college in OR. It admitted 91% of applicants (8,877 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $9,552 a year on average with aid, $21,590 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $57,906 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $540,852 ahead with aid, $492,700 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($113,889); Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering ($101,905); Mechanical Engineering ($94,223).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 8% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 24% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Portland State University: 5, 22 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus (2.4 per class year, 17 over 7 class years, the last seven years, 2017-2023); Orange County School of the Arts (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); Westwood High School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/portland-state-university.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Portland State University: 4, 8 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Chaminade College Preparatory (3.0 per class year, 3 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); Archbishop Mitty High School (2.0 per class year, 2 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); California School of the Arts — San Gabriel Valley (2.0 per class year, 2 over 1 class year, Class of 2026, counted column "Acceptances (Class of 2026)"). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/portland-state-university.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/portland-state-university.json
Questions families ask
What is Portland State University's acceptance rate? Portland State University is a public four-year college in OR. It admitted 91% of applicants (8,877 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Does Portland State University require the SAT or ACT? Portland State University is a public four-year college in OR. It admitted 91% of applicants (8,877 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
How much does Portland State University cost? Cost: about $9,552 a year on average with aid, $21,590 a year at full price for in-state students.
What do Portland State University graduates earn? Median earnings ten years after entry: $57,906 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $540,852 ahead with aid, $492,700 ahead at full price.
Which majors at Portland State University pay the most? Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($113,889); Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering ($101,905); Mechanical Engineering ($94,223).
Which high schools send the most graduates to Portland State University? The high schools sending the most graduates per class year to Portland State University, from each school's own published list: Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus (2.4), Orange County School of the Arts (1), Westwood High School (1), Punahou School (0.5), Hawaii Preparatory Academy (0.2). 5 high schools' lists name Portland State University.
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Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com). These figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.