Fairfield University

Overview

Rankings

• #1 Best Business Colleges in Connecticut
• #4 Best Nursing Colleges in Connecticut
• #4 Best Communications Colleges in Connecticut
• #6 Best MBA Programs for General Management
• #7 Best Online Colleges in Connecticut
• #8 Highest-Paying Colleges for Public Health
• #8 Best Engineering Colleges in Connecticut
• #9 Best Colleges in Connecticut

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Fairfield University? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

As a private institution in Fairfield, Connecticut, Fairfield University reviews applications selectively. The acceptance rate runs near 33%. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,335. The graduation rate is roughly 84%.

Acceptance Rate

33%

Retention Rate

91%

SAT Average

1335

ACT Midpoint

29

SAT Range

1260–1390

ACT Range

29–32

Full-Time Faculty

100%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$13,298

Student–Faculty Ratio

12:1

Diversity Index

0.36

First-Gen Students

17%

Applicants

13,359

Admitted

6,971

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2024-25

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Fairfield University is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 24% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school most admitted students ultimately pass on.

Yield Rate

24%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

14%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

5%

of enrolled freshmen

Early Decision Admit Rate

79.8%

vs 33.3% overall

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Fairfield University? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Fairfield University is $58,350, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $48,095. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $33,302 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $26,000 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$58,350

Out-of-State

$58,350

Avg Net Price

$48,095

Median Debt

$26,000

Pell Grant Rate

7%

Federal Loan Rate

43%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Fairfield University — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is Fairfield University Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Fairfield University earn a median of $88,794, well above the national average for bachelor's degree holders.

6 Years After Entry

$73,693

8 Years

$87,663

10 Years

$88,794

Debt-to-Earnings

0.29x

Earning > $25K

85%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does Fairfield University Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Fairfield University is a genuine engine of upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 1.58%, well above the typical college. Access is narrower: only about 2.5% of students come from the bottom income quintile, typical of more selective, higher-income institutions. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 63.2% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $151,500, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

1.58%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

63.2%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

2.5%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$205,835

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Fairfield University? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Fairfield University. Its economic connectedness score is 1.82, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (0.03), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 4% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.82

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

0.03

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

3.9%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

Patents, inventors, and research influence · Opportunity Insights & Times Higher Education

Fairfield University produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 21 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.28%

Top 66% nationally

Patents Produced

21

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

16

Downstream influence

Inventors From Low-Income

1.11%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Investment Income

$-51,983,159

Top Programs

The fields Fairfield University awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Business & Marketing 41% $82,387 early-career
• Health Professions 19% $91,193 early-career
• Communications 8% $55,456 early-career
• Psychology 8% $41,477 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 5% $48,945 early-career
• Social Sciences 5% $62,507 early-career
• Engineering 3% $81,588 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 3%

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.