Despite its small territory, Connecticut is home to some well-regarded institutions of higher education. In particular, Quinnipiac University has been gaining popularity in recent years. But is it really a good school? Let’s find out:
In short, Quinnipiac meets the criteria to be considered a good university, as it has a solid reputation in fields like Nursing and Journalism. In addition, the school has improved its position in the national rankings and maintains high student satisfaction levels.
However, there are many different factors that come into play when choosing a college. In order to determine if Quinnipiac is a good fit for you, it is important to be well informed and carefully evaluate every single variable.
And that’s what we are about to do in this article. We’ll start off by taking a quick overview of this college. After that, we’ll analyze the 5 key factors that may influence your decision, which are reputation, student satisfaction, class size, student expenses, and even the salaries that graduates are likely to earn.
So if that sounds interesting to you, let’s dive right in!
Overview of Quinnipiac University.
Founded in 1929, Quinnipiac is a private mid-sized institution with three campuses in New Haven, Connecticut. The university offers over 60 undergraduate degrees and 30 graduate programs across the following academic divisions:
- College of Arts and Sciences.
- School of Business.
- School of Communications.
- School of Education.
- School of Engineering.
- School of Health Sciences.
- School of Law.
- Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.
- School of Nursing.
In order to prepare students for the job market or advanced studies, the university combines classroom study with hands-on assignments through internships and clinical practice. Additionally, a quarter of students participate in research, while 31% study abroad, according to Forbes Magazine.
Quinnipiac also offers accelerated dual-degree programs that allow students to earn their undergraduate degree along with a Master’s degree in a shorter time. This option is available in areas like Biology, Business, Communications, and Computer Science, just to name a few.
Lastly, the school is home to the Quinnipiac University Poll, a well-respected organization known for its independent and unbiased work. The institute usually employs students majoring in Political Science, Communications, Sociology, or related majors.
Furthermore, the findings of Quinnipiac University’s polls have been cited by prominent media outlets, such as CNN, Fox News, and the Wall Street Journal.
1. Prestige and Rankings.
When it comes to reputation, we can get an idea of how Quinnipiac University has performed by checking out the latest college rankings, which are published on a yearly basis.
Rankings are a useful tool if you want to take a glance at a school’s prestige. And while your choice shouldn’t be based entirely on these numbers, they are still a good starting point in the decision-making process.
In the following table you can see which position Quinnipiac holds in 2022, according to the most reliable publications:
| Source | Rank |
| Forbes | 275 |
| Times Higher Education | 242 |
However, looking at these simple numbers is not really that helpful. They only show you the school’s performance at this moment, causing you to miss the forest for the trees.
Besides, rankings tend to vary depending on the methodology used by the company, meaning that a school that does well in one ranking may have a very different result in another one.
In fact, that’s exacly the problem here. There is a difference of over 30 spots between both rankings!
So in order to address this issue, we’ll take the average of the last years and show you the historical trend. The main goal is to evaluate the school from a more unbiased point of view.
Below is a graph with the average rank for Quinnipiac University over time:
Now you have a wider view of what’s going on. Every chart tells you a story. And what we can see here is that Quinnipiac improved its position in the national rankings, but it’s struggling to maintain it.
Back in 2017, this university was standing at an average position of 270. After a couple of years it rose dramatically, reaching its highest point at 215.5. However, it could not maintain its position at that level and moved down to spot 258.5 in 2022.
Overall, its average rank improved by 11.5 positions in 5 years.
Even though this change wasn’t so big, it is still positive to see that the university has a better rank than it had five years ago.
By tracking Quinnipiac’s place in the national rankings we were able to see how it has performed as the years go by. And even though Forbes and Times Higher Education give different ratings, we managed to get a more accurate view by plotting the average position and analyzing it.
What we just did is a more effective approach to evaluating a school’s performance over a given period.
In the next part of the post, we’ll use a similar method to assess how satisfied students are at Quinnipiac University. So keep reading because this will be important.
2. Student Satisfaction.
If you’ve been doing your research for a while, chances are you’ve visited other sites to read reviews from other students. And while internet reviews may be useful at first glance, the truth is that they are often contradictory and you might end up more confused after reading many of them.
Besides, there are several disadvantages to this approach. Just to name a few:
- There is no way to verify that online reviews were written by actual students.
- Fake reviews are a common practice and they are often hard to detect.
- Star ratings can be easily manipulated to artificially improve or damage a school’s reputation.
The above mentioned are just some of the reasons why you should take reviews with a big grain of salt.
But don’t worry. If you’re wondering if there is a more reliable way to gauge student satisfaction, the answer is yes. We achieve that by analyzing retention rates, and that’s what we are going to do in this section!
Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let me give you some context on retention rates and their importance.
Retention Rates: What Are They and Why Should You Care?
A retention rate is simply the percentage of first-time students who remained at the same school for their sophomore year. It is one of the most accurate parameters to measure student satisfaction because of the following reasons:
- It’s calculated with actual data from real students.
- The data is reported to the National Center for Education Statistics and it’s hard to manipulate. Any attempt to falsify this information could have serious consequences for the school.
Even if this is the first time you hear about this concept, there are solid arguments why you should pay close attention to it.
A student will be more encouraged to keep studying at the same university if his freshman experience was positive. Accordingly, the higher the retention rate is, the better expectations you can have for your first college year.
On the other hand, a bad first-year experience will induce more students to drop out or transfer to another college, causing the retention rate to decrease. Therefore, this is something to keep in mind before you make your final decision.
There are, of course, other factors that may lead students to drop out, such as personal problems or lack of money. However, colleges that take good care of their freshmen indeed hold high retention rates throughout the years.
Retention Rate at Quinnipiac University.
As of 2020, Quinnipiac University reported a retention rate of 88.82%.
The following chart illustrates how retention rates have varied over the years at this institution. I want you to take a look at it carefully. What can you notice?
According to our chart, this parameter has remained at a high level with some fluctuations.
In 2013, Quinnipiac had an 85.22% retention rate. A few years later, it reached its maximum at 88.9%. After three years, it went down by almost 5 points. However, it showed significant growth in 2020 and reached 88.82%, which is pretty close to the peak it had registered before.
The data for 2021 has not been released yet, but it could be above 88% once again.
This is an indicator that new undergraduate students are highly satisfied with their experience at Quinnipiac University. The odds of dropping out after the first year are low, and freshmen find a good environment to keep studying at this university.
Graduation Rates: What You Need to Know.
In the previous section, we analyzed how satisfied students are after their freshman year.
But now it’s time to answer an equally important question: how many undergrads actually finish their studies?
We can find the answer to that question by simply looking at the graduation rate of the school, which is the percentage of students who completed their program.
A high graduation rate is a very positive signal, as it reveals that all the time, effort, and resources you spend at this school will be probably worth it.
On the contrary, low graduation rates may suggest that students don’t get academic support along the way or they just feel disappointed over time. So this is also something that you’ll want to take into account.
Graduation Rate at Quinnipiac.
According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, Quinnipiac University registered the following graduation rates:
| Time | Graduation rate |
| 6 years | 77.08% |
| 4 years | 72.53% |
In the following plot you’ll visualize the 6-year graduation rate over time. In other words, the proportion of students who completed their program within 6 years after enrolling:
This graph clearly illustrates that Quinnipiac University has maintained a high graduation rate over time.
As of 2015, Quinnipiac registered a 76.88% graduation rate. A few years later, it reached its peak at 78.31%. And nowadays it’s standing at 77.08%. So we could say this parameter has remained relatively stable with slight fluctuations.
Even though the graduation rate didn’t show any dramatic increase, it is a good signal when a school can maintain it around 75%. The national average is 56% for 4-year colleges, something that Quinnipiac exceeds by over 20 points.
This is an indicator that Quinnipiac University provides the right conditions for students to advance and graduate within a reasonable time.
Outcomes 8 Years After Attending.
We can dive a little bit deeper and find out the proportion of students that dropped out or transferred from Quinnipiac. For this purpose, take a look at the following doughnut chart:
From this chart, you can tell that within 8 years of entry, 77% of the students had already graduated, while 20% transferred to another college. Probably the most interesting fact is that only 3% of the students dropped out, which is a very small proportion of the entering class.
3. Class Size / Student-to-Faculty-Ratio.
Class size is another factor that could define whether or not this school is a good fit for you. If you prioritize being able to interact with your professors regularly and receiving more personal attention, you’ll want to find a college with a low student-to-faculty ratio.
This parameter tells you how many students there are at a college for every faculty member. Thus, a lower value typically indicates that classes are more reduced and personalized.
On the other hand, a higher student-to-faculty ratio isn’t necessarily something negative. It all boils down to the type of experience you are looking for. Some people feel comfortable in larger classes, while some others don’t.
What Is the Student-to-Faculty Ratio at Quinnipiac?
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the Quinnipiac University has a student-to-faculty ratio of 15:1, meaning that there are 15 students for every faculty member.
This number has experienced some slight changes in recent years, as shown in the following table:
| Cycle | Student-to-faculty Ratio |
| 2020 – 2021 | 15:1 |
| 2019 – 2020 | 12:1 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 14:1 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 16:1 |
It is important to point out that you should not take this parameter literally. In other words, a 15:1 ratio doesn’t mean that every single class at Quinnipiac will have exactly 15 students. However, it is still a good approximation to get an idea of how big or small classes are.
In fact, Quinnipiac University reports an average class size of 20 students, which is similar to the student-to-faculty ratio of 15:1.
Keep in mind that class size is not set in stone, and it does vary across different courses and majors.
4. Estimated Student Expenses.
Paying for college is one of the main concerns that will have an impact on your final choice. So in order to make an informed decision, the first step is to get familiar with the expenses you’ll have to cover.
The following table contains the reported Cost of attendance (COA) for Quinnipiac University. The COA is a quick estimation of the amounts you would spend annually without receiving any kind of aid. This includes tuition and fees, room and board, books, supplies, and other expenses:
| Tuition and fees | $49,280 |
| Room and board | $14,940 |
| Books and supplies | $800 |
| Other expenses | $2,000 |
| Total cost of attendance | $67,020 |
This cost can be significantly lower if you are awarded financial aid. For that reason, we’ll dedicate this whole section to take an in-depth look into the questions that matter to you.
Is the school getting more expensive? What’s the average amount that students receive in grants or scholarships?
These are some of the key questions that we will respond in the next paragraphs. So stay tuned.
Cost of Attendance and Financial Aid.
In this part of the post, we will see how the amount of aid compares to the cost of attendance. Ideally, if the cost of attendance is going up, we want the amount of aid to be growing at the same or even at a higher rate.
But before we get in more detail, I want to make something clear:
This section is only intended to provide a general picture of how the cost and the amount of aid have performed.
All of the numbers presented here are estimates reported by the school. However, every person has a different background, and in case you are eligible for financial aid, the amount will strongly vary depending on your circumstances.
If you need a more accurate estimation based on your personal case, please refer to Quinnipiac’s net price calculator.
Having said that, let’s take a look at the chart:
As the graph shows, the cost of attendance is going up steadily.
Part of this increase is already expectable, as inflation consistently drives up prices. Nonetheless, there are many factors that define the cost of attendance. Consequently, the change in price from one year to another can easily be above inflation.
During the period we are analyzing, the cost of attendance grew by 16.84%, going from $57,360 to $67,020 in 5 years.
On the other hand, the average amount of grant aid for freshmen increased at a similar pace. In 2014-2015 it was standing at $21,226, and after five years it reached its highest point at $24,548, which is an increase of 15.65%.
Even though the amount of aid experienced similar growth, we still need to know more details before we can draw any conclusion. And that’s the topic of our next section.
Percentage of First-Year Students Receiving Grant or Scholarship Aid.
So far, we know how the annual cost and financial aid have varied over the last years at Quinnipiac. But now it’s time to find out if there are enough freshmen receiving this benefit.
In the chart below, you’ll see the percentage of new students that have been awarded aid during the last cycles. What can you notice?
This graph clearly shows that a great proportion of Quinnipiac students are receiving grant or scholarship aid.
Back in the 2013-2014 cycle, 90.7% of the entering class at Quinnipiac University received this benefit. And after a few years, this variable reached its peak at 99%.
Although this percentage didn’t stay at that level, it’s still above 95%, a very high value. So your odds of being awarded aid as a new student are still high. But remember, if you need an estimation based on your situation, head over to Quinnipiac’s net price calculator.
As of 2019-2020, which is the last cycle reported, 97.29% of new students received grant or scholarship aid. This is an increase of 6.59 points over a 6-year period.
Even though this percentage didn’t remain at 99%, it’s still standing at a very high level. So the odds of being awarded aid as a new student are pretty good. But remember, if you need an estimation based on your situation, head over to Quinnipiac’s net price calculator.
Bottom Line.
To summarize, in this section we analyzed the environment that students face when it comes to paying for college. Our key findings are listed below:
- The cost of attendance at Quinnipiac is going up steadily.
- The average amount of grant or scholarship aid has increased at a similar rate.
- In addition, the percentage of students receiving this type of aid is pretty high; above 95% in the last years.
5. Expected Salaries.
Now we are getting to the final part of our analysis. And we cannot end this post without talking about about salaries. Even though people usually find it hard to bring up this topic, it is something you are probably interested in.
Hence the next question is, how much can you expect to earn after graduation?
The answer to this question is variable, as it depends on the major you selected, as well as the job offers available when you graduate. But the good news is that the U.S. Department of Education publishes a list of the typical salaries that graduates earn in the third year after graduation.
This piece of information is highly valuable for the following reasons:
- It is calculated using data from actual Quinnipiac graduates.
- It corresponds to the early stage of their career. At this point, you probably care more about your starting salary than you do about your late career income.
There are other sites like Payscale or Glassdoor that upload their own estimates. And while that information may be reliable as well, it is not as in-depth as the data that the government provides.
Salary Table.
The table below contains the median annual income for Quinnipiac alumni 3 years within graduation, according to the U.S. Department of Education:
| Program | Median earnings |
| Accounting | $70,356 |
| Biology | $37,036 |
| Business Administration | $60,192 |
| Computer Information Systems | $68,543 |
| Criminal Justice | $45,724 |
| English | $40,119 |
| Finance | $70,624 |
| Journalism | $47,394 |
| Law – First Professional Degree | $71,826 |
| Nursing | $79,180 |
As the table shows, Nursing graduates are the top earners during the first stage of their career, with a median income of $79,180.
Lawyers are also among the highest-payed professionals from Quinnipiac. Their median salary is $71,826.
Other disciplines like Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, and Computer Information Systems have also seen competitive annual earnings.
As for Computer Science graduates, the university claims that their mean starting salary is $71,500. However, this number doesn’t appear on College Scorecard, the online tool where the U.S. government publishes the data for all universities.
If you’re interested in a program that doesn’t appear on the list above, you can visit Quinnipiac ‘s page on College Scorecard to check if the information is available.
Conclusion.
So there you have it. Needless to say, this post was meant to be strongly data-driven. Rather than relying on other people’s opinions, we took a logical approach intended to provide a more accurate picture of the school.
After analyzing the most important variables, a story emerged from the data and we managed to evaluate the school’s performance from different angles.
The following are some of our key takeaways:
- Quinnipiac recently climbed in the national rankings. However, the university is struggling to keep the positions it gained.
- First-year students are usually satisfied at Quinnipiac, as we could tell by tracking the retention rate over time.
- The university has maintained a good graduation rate. Meaning that most students find the right environment to advance and complete their program.
- Only 3% of the students dropped out.
- The cost of attendance and the average amount of aid have been increasing almost at the same rate over the years.
- Additionaly, a high percentage of the entering class is receiving grant or scholarship aid. This value is now above 95%.
- Overall Quinnipiac satisfied the criteria to be considered a good university.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Quinnipiac University is famous for its polling center, which is widely recognized for its accuracy and has been cited by major media outlets. Besides, the university is home to Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum. Popular majors include Nursing, Finance, and Business Administration.
Quinnipiac University is commonly regarded as a party school. It does have a more active party scene than most universities in Connecticut. However, it’s still far from being among the top party schools in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the most popular majors by the number of graduates are Health Science Studies (352), Nursing (244), Finance (114), Marketing (100), and Business Administration (82).
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Quinnipiac University has a population of 9,746 students, out of which 6,843 are undergrads, while 2,903 are pursuing graduate studies.
Quinnipiac University is part of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the NCAA Division I. The Quinnipiac Bobcats represent the school in different sports, including baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, hockey, and others.
