Undergraduate Enrollment

3,505

Points of Distinction

• Listed by U.S. News and World Report among the top 25 master’s-granting institutions in the West
• One of the few preprofessional undergraduate theater arts programs in the country
• Located in an eclectically chic South Austin neighborhood

Perched on a tranquil hilltop overlooking bustling downtown Austin, St. Edward’s University offers college students the best of both worlds: a serene and challenging liberal arts learning environment just blocks from some of Austin’s most popular hangouts. This Catholic university (sister school to the University of Notre Dame) cultivates critical thinking and social service among its more than 3,500 undergraduates. St. Edward’s is also known for recruiting and retaining Hispanic students, which adds to campus diversity.

The pretty 180-acre campus has welcomed a number of new buildings and facilities over the last few years, including a 119,000-square-foot residence hall complex with designer touches. With its courtyards, outdoor spaces, and pedestrian street, the complex serves as a town square to unite the university’s apartments and residence halls.

St. Edward’s has more than 50 undergraduate degree programs in addition to New College, an educational program tailored to the needs of adult learners. The university recently acquired the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve to establish an interdisciplinary natural resource laboratory, which will provide hands-on learning. It also established a branch campus in Angers, France, in 2008, to offer study-abroad opportunities, professional education options, and other academic initiatives.

In recent years well-established local haunts (Amy’s Ice Cream and Opal Divine’s brewpub, to name a couple) have opened new locations on South Congress Avenue, the main street that runs parallel to campus. Funky boutiques and diverse eateries continue to dot the landscape of this hip, up-and-coming South Austin neighborhood.