Widener vs California State University-Northridge (CSUN)

Widener University and California State University-Northridge, two distinct institutions of higher learning, offer unique educational experiences to their students. Widener, a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania, boasts a smaller student body and a higher acceptance rate compared to CSUN, a public university located in Northridge, California. While both universities offer a diverse range of undergraduate and graduate programs, Widener is known for its strong programs in engineering, business, and nursing, while CSUN excels in the arts, education, and social sciences. Explore the detailed comparison table below to delve into further differences, including student demographics, graduation rates, and additional program offerings, to determine which university best aligns with your academic aspirations and personal preferences.

	California State University-Northridge	Widener University
Overview
Location	Northridge, California	Chester, Pennsylvania
Campus setting	City: Large	Suburb: Large
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Public	Private (Non Profit)
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate and Graduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	82.0%	85.0%
Common app member	No	Yes
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	88.1%	84.5%
Application fees	Undergraduate: $70 Graduate: $70	$35
SAT range	N/A	1080 - 1275
ACT range	N/A	N/A
Students submitting SAT score		28.0%
Students submitting ACT score
Total number of applicants	23,656	5,719
Total number of admissions given out	20,842	4,834
Admitted students who chose to enroll	4,716	608
Yield rate	22.6%	12.6%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Required	Required
Recommendation letters	Not required	Not required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Not required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	In state: $31,857 Out of state: $43,737	$61,748
Average net price	$8,708	$25,343
Tuition	In state: $5,742 Out of state: $17,622	$48,724
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $7,316 Meal plan: $4,506	Room/dormitory: $7,748 Meal plan: $7,060
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	82.0% Average amount $10,882	100.0% Average amount $32,036
Students receiving federal student loan	14.0% Average amount $4,779	75.0% Average amount $5,440
Students taking out private loans	1.0% Average amount $12,360	24.0% Average amount $12,154

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	34,496 Men 45.0% Women 55.0%	2,766 Men 41.9% Women 58.1%
Graduate students	5,612 Men 33.0% Women 67.0%	3,109 Men 28.1% Women 71.9%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Low
Out-of-state students	1.7%	40.5%
International students	6.0%	2.0%
Campus local/setting	City: Large	Suburb: Large
Dormitory capacity	4,029	1,400
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	California Washington Hawaii Nevada Texas	Pennsylvania New Jersey Maryland Delaware New York

Academics
Popular study areas	Health Professions Engineering Kinesiology & Leisure Studies Public Administration and Social Service Computer and Information Science	Health Professions Legal Profession Public Administration and Social Service Business Psychology
Students to faculty ratio	26:1	12:1
Institutional accreditation	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission	Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Outcome
Graduation rate	54.2%	68.4%
Dropout rate	33.7%	7.7%
Transferred out	5.6%	23.5%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering (Master's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $95,739 Year 3: $108,158 Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $89,831 Year 2: $92,124 Year 3: $98,535 Taxation (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $72,745 Year 2: $86,867 Year 3: $97,852 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $83,455 Year 2: $88,907 Year 3: $96,626 Construction Engineering Technologies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $79,863 Year 2: $75,204 Year 3: $92,559 Engineering-Related Fields (Master's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $80,493 Year 3: $92,252 Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $83,281 Year 2: $83,669 Year 3: $89,964 Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $64,782 Year 2: $75,047 Year 3: $84,221 Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $68,859 Year 2: $73,070 Year 3: $82,977 Educational Administration and Supervision (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $78,180 Year 2: $76,863 Year 3: $82,194	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $68,072 Year 2: $69,023 Year 3: $78,834 Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: $70,872 Year 2: $72,274 Year 3: $77,715 Chemical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $56,994 Year 2: $67,660 Year 3: $74,855 Business/Commerce, General (Master's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $71,854 Year 3: $74,433 Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: $49,168 Year 2: $50,606 Year 3: $72,346 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $64,959 Year 2: $63,275 Year 3: $70,157 Legal Research and Advanced Professional Studies (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $90,088 Year 2: $60,320 Year 3: $69,444 Law (First Professional Degrees) Year 1: $50,960 Year 2: $55,632 Year 3: $65,158 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $34,724 Year 2: $38,829 Year 3: $63,971 Civil Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $60,130 Year 2: $59,640 Year 3: $63,186

Compare Similar Colleges

The list of suggested college comparisons provided below is generated automatically by our system, utilizing statistics gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and various online sources. If you don't find the colleges you wish to compare, please visit our comparison page. There, you can search for the specific colleges and initiate your comparison.