Southside High School

Youngsville · LA · Lafayette Parish · Public


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 3 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 18 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 56th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Top 1.0% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 91% (54th percentile nationally)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How Southside High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 56th percentile nationally with 3 AP courses.
  • LocallyLA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−9 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Lafayette High School, Acadiana High School, New Iberia Senior High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

56th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
3
Subject breadth not reported
Students taking AP courses
264
≈14 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
15
2 calculus · 13 advanced
Lab science classes
19
1 physics · 18 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program
✅ Gifted/talented program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Top 1.0% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
982
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
53.6
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

54th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
91%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
322
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
6.1%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
18.2%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Mixed-income school

Below Title I eligibility threshold (FRPL < 35%)

34.5%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

25-34% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Below the federal Title I threshold but a meaningful share of the population is income-eligible for free lunch.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

74%
admit rate
$11,954
in-state tuition/yr · $28,631 out-of-state
1150–1330
SAT 25–75 · ACT 24–29

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $19,151/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

💰 Pay for college in Louisiana

Louisiana's public scholarships

Louisiana's TOPS pays public-college tuition by merit tier — the higher your core GPA and test score, the bigger the award. No income limit on any tier. Scores below are SAT / ACT.

Merit TOPS Opportunity
Public-college tuition
GPA: 2.50 core GPA Test: SAT 1030 / ACT 20 Income: No income limit

Entry tier — Louisiana public-college tuition for a 2.5 core GPA and SAT 1030 / ACT 20.

Official program details ↗
Merit TOPS Performance
Tuition + $400/yr stipend
GPA: 3.25 core GPA Test: SAT 1130 / ACT 23 Income: No income limit

Tuition plus a $400/yr stipend for a 3.25 core GPA and SAT 1130 / ACT 23.

Official program details ↗
Merit TOPS Honors
Tuition + $800/yr stipend
GPA: 3.50 core GPA Test: SAT 1260 / ACT 27 Income: No income limit

Tuition plus an $800/yr stipend for a 3.5 core GPA and SAT 1260 / ACT 27.

Official program details ↗
Merit TOPS Excellence
Tuition & fees up to $12,000/yr
GPA: 3.50 core GPA Test: SAT 1390 / ACT 31 Income: No income limit

Top tier (new for 2024-25): tuition and fees up to $12,000/yr for a 3.5 core GPA and SAT 1390 / ACT 31. (New top tier (class of 2024-25 onward).)

Official program details ↗
Merit TOPS Tech
Up to 2 years of technical / vocational tuition
GPA: 2.50 core GPA Test: SAT 920 / ACT 17 Income: No income limit

Career-technical tier — up to two years of vocational tuition for a 2.5 core GPA and SAT 920 / ACT 17. (For non-academic / career-technical programs.)

Official program details ↗

Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
19.7%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
361
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
367:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
91
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 441 in 2021 to 438 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-0.7%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,833 students:

2025
1,826
2027
1,812
2029
1,799

≈ 34 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $13,999 per student in district revenue, the 34 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $475,966/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Lafayette High School
Lafayette
Public 9.7 1,720 -5.7%
Acadiana High School
Lafayette
Public 10.7 1,652 -8.5%
New Iberia Senior High School
New Iberia
Public 12.0 1,315 -4.7%
Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy
Youngsville
Public · charter 2.1 818 +220.8%
O. Comeaux High School
Lafayette
Public 5.9 873 -25.2%
Carencro High School
Lafayette
Public 14.3 1,116 -1.8%
Westgate High School
New Iberia
Public 9.3 863 -6.8%
W. D. & Mary Baker Smith Career Center
Lafayette
Public 9.1

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