Public · Portland, OR

Portland State University

Q: What is Portland State University’s acceptance rate?

Portland State University admits 90.9% of applicants (2025 data).

Q: Does Portland State University require the SAT or ACT?

Portland State University’s testing policy is optional.

Q: How much does Portland State University cost after financial aid?

The average net price is $8,337 a year (2025). That is the sticker price minus grants and scholarships, averaged across students who receive aid. Your own price depends on your family’s finances.

Q: What is Portland State University’s graduation rate?

53% of students finish within six years.

Get to know the college, from admissions and cost to life on campus.

90.9%acceptance rate

Overview

91%

Acceptance rate

$9,552

Net price per year

1,615

Freshman class

Urban

Portland, OR

pdx.edu

Website

PSU's motto, Let Knowledge Serve the City, is close to literal: the campus sits inside downtown Portland, turning that into applied problem-solving with local industry. Started in 1946 as the Vanport Extension Center and only became a university in 1969, it still carries that access-oriented origin: Oregon's most affordable research university, with more transfer and graduate students living nearby than first-years.

About Portland State University

Type: Public Research University
Setting: Urban
Undergraduates: 13,182

Admissions

Acceptance rate

91%

of 9,077 applicants

Application deadline

Mar 1

Early Decision/Early Action: No
Accepts Common App: —

Cost

Net price

$9,552 per year

Average after grants, down from $9,552

What families pay, by incomeBars run to the $20,561 full cost

Tuition and aid

Full cost of attendance: $20,561per year
In-state tuition: —
Out-of-state tuition: —
Average family income: $42,058
Students with a school grant: 55%
Average school grant: $4,105
Average federal debt: $19,489at graduation
Need-blind: —
Meets full need: —
Merit scholarships: Yes
CSS Profile: —
International aid: Standard international admission; no dedicated international aid program stated

Academics

Students per faculty

17:1

Majors offered: 72
Freshmen who return: 76%
Notable: Most affordableresearch university in Oregon (U.S. News)

Students

Freshman class

1,615 students

13,182 undergraduates in all

Who studies here

White47%

Hispanic23%

Asian10%

Black6%

Two or more races8%

International3%

Other or not reported3%

Campus life

Setting: Urban
Location: Portland, OR
Live on campus: —
Student organizations: —
Varsity sports: —

WHAT STUDENTS SAY

A commuter campus woven into downtown Portland

PSU is genuinely a downtown campus, not a campus with a city view: classes, housing, and city blocks sit interleaved, and food carts, cafes, and internships are a short walk away. It's also a commuter school first: more transfer, continuing, and graduate students live in campus housing than first-years, and aggregate student reviews describe a social scene that leans quiet unless you get into clubs or programming like VikNights. Downtown's realities show up too: some reviews flag visible homelessness and safety concerns near campus. The Vanguard, PSU's fully student-run paper since 1946, covers that city-and-campus overlap directly.

Summarized by Spike from what students write: PSU Housing & Residence Life, Portland State Vanguard.