College profile
Texas State University
TX · Public · Small city · 37,183 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $104,127 four years out; anthropology grads about $40,706 — a 2.6× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- Grades and scores convert directly to dollars here. This college publishes an automatic merit grid — hit the GPA/score tiers and the discount is guaranteed, no negotiation. Check the scholarship table below before assuming the sticker.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 5× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$28,073/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$56,906/yr) still runs about 5× 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.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Affordable — net price averages ~$16,805/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- Strong test/GPA students chasing merit aid — President's Honor Scholarship or Texas State Achievement Scholarship on offer (see merit-scholarship tab below)
- In-state residents (tuition ~$11,450 — major value play)
- Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Communication, Journalism, & Related (the two biggest majors)
- Research-curious students (R2 — active research output)
- Students who thrive in a large, programmatic environment
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 980, or ACT below 19 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
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?
47% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 7% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
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 Texas State University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Texas State University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Texas State University's own published aid policy · as published when we checked, August 2026
Who qualifies: TX residents; covers tuition + mandatory fees.
The Bobcat Promise provides grants for tuition and mandatory fees up to 15 hours per semester to new entering freshmen with a FAFSA® income of $50,000 or less. ... We guarantee that students will have access to enough grants to cover tuition and mandatory fees if their FAFSA® income is $50,000 or less per year. ... To be eligible for the Bobcat Promise, you must meet all of the following criteria: Be an entering first-time freshman (transfer students and students admitted through the TXST-LSCO Gateway Program are not eligible) / Be a Texas resident / Have a FAFSA® income of $50,000 or less ... No. The Bobcat Promise will cover tuition and mandatory fees, but not housing, meal plans, books and other costs.
Income thresholds assume typical assets. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
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
+$457K ahead at full price +$502K 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 Texas State University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Texas State University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Texas State University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $104,127 |
| Construction Engineering Technology/Technician. | $100,352 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $94,780 |
| Industrial Engineering. | $90,729 |
| Manufacturing Engineering. | $88,995 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | $84,557 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions. | $79,289 |
| Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General. | $78,671 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $78,418 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $77,701 |
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 →
Merit aidScholarship money awarded for grades or test scores, not financial need — at many colleges it's automatic at certain GPA/score levels.
What your test score unlocks at Texas State University
Score-or-merit-based scholarships published by the institution. Stackable in most cases — confirm with the financial aid office.
| Award | Annual award | Score gate |
|---|---|---|
|
President's Honor Scholarship
President's Honor · any
|
$12,000/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
1420+ SAT |
|
Texas State Achievement Scholarship
Achievement · any
|
$7,000/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
1160+ SAT |
|
Texas State Distinguished Scholarship
Distinguished · any
|
$4,500/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
1160+ SAT |
See all merit scholarships across colleges + 13 national awards on /merit-scholarships →
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 Texas State University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Texas 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 Texas State University?
Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Texas State University and every other college on your list.
Get your child's odds at Texas State University →Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Texas State University?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
4 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Texas State University on it. Between them they printed 6 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Texas 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.
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
2 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Texas State University on it. Between them they printed 3 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Texas 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 6 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.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantTexas State University is a public four-year college in TX. It admitted 90% of applicants (37,183 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 980–1190, ACT 19–26. 47% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 7% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $16,805 a year on average with aid, $28,073 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $56,906 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $501,840 ahead with aid, $456,768 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($104,127); Construction Engineering Technology/Technician ($100,352); Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering ($94,780).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 6% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 24% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Aid pledge published by the college: families earning under $50,000 pay no tuition (TX residents; covers tuition + mandatory fees).
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Texas State University: 4, 6 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Santa Margarita Catholic High School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); St. Stephen's Episcopal School (Austin) (0.4 per class year, 2 over 5 class years, Classes of 2021-2025); The John Cooper School (0.4 per class year, 2 over 5 class years, Class of 2022 - 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/texas-state-university.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Texas State University: 2, 3 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (2.0 per class year, 2 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); The TASIS School in Dorado (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, 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/texas-state-university.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/texas-state-university.json