At a Glance
Auburn admits 46.9% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
Not reported by this school
receive need-based grant aid
$34,342
average debt at graduation
Auburn graduates carry an average of $34,342 in debt.
Merit Aid
7,409
students received merit aid
$8,461
average merit award
Getting In
Auburn admits 46.9% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 19% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 72% of the class submitted
35% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Auburn University rates your personal essay as Very Important — equal weight to your GPA. Don't underestimate it. Demonstrated interest is Important — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
33.3% of Auburn classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Auburn, 33.3% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
21:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
17%
Men in fraternities
30%
Women in sororities
53%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Auburn's student body is 82.9% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Auburn graduates 61.7% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Auburn graduates 61.7% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Auburn
61.7%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $34,919*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
81.9%
Overall 6-yr rate
69.4%
Pell recipient rate
A 12.5 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
94.2%
94.2% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Auburn.
Auburn is a Southern college town on the Alabama-Georgia line, roughly halfway between Montgomery and Columbus and under two hours from Atlanta. Toomer's Corner, where campus meets downtown, is the literal and social centre.
Notable Alumni
Tim Cook
Chief executive of Apple, who earned a degree in industrial engineering at Auburn in 1982
Class of 1982
Jimmy Wales
Co-founder of Wikipedia, who earned his bachelor's degree in finance at Auburn
Class of 1989
Octavia Spencer
Academy Award-winning actor for The Help, and a three-time Oscar nominee
Class of 1994
Bo Jackson
Heisman Trophy winner who went on to play both professional football and Major League Baseball
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
College town
Auburn, AL
Best For
Traditions
Rolling Toomer's Corner
After a win, students and townspeople cover the oak trees at Toomer's Corner in toilet paper. The original oaks were poisoned by a rival fan in 2010 and replaced; the tradition continued through the gap.
War Eagle
Auburn's battle cry, and the pre-game eagle flight around Jordan-Hare Stadium. It is used as a greeting between Auburn people anywhere, not only at games.
Hey Day
A day each semester when students wear name tags and are expected to greet everyone they pass, begun after the Second World War to reintegrate returning veterans.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Auburn
Atlanta
1 hour 45 minutesThe nearest major city and the practical international airport.
Chewacla State Park
10 minutesWaterfall, lake and mountain-bike trails immediately south of town.
The Gulf Coast
4 hoursGulf Shores and Orange Beach, the standard Alabama spring destination.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Montgomery Regional (MGM)
1 hour from campus
For international flights: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) — about 1 hour 45 minutes by road.
Pro sports nearby
- Atlanta Braves MLB
- Atlanta Falcons NFL
- Atlanta United MLS
Career Proximity
Auburn's pipeline is engineering and manufacturing across the Southeast — the automotive corridor through Alabama and Georgia, plus aerospace and defence work around Huntsville.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Hyundai
- Kia
- Mercedes-Benz
- Boeing
- Southern Company
- Blue Origin
Atlanta, 1 hour 45 minutes
Who Thrives Here
Auburn admits 46.9% of applicants into a 28,953-student undergraduate body, and its culture is the most legible thing about it: about 30% of men and 53% of women join Greek life, and only 17% of undergraduates live on campus, so the town of Auburn is effectively the housing system. A student who wants none of that will find the social centre of gravity hard to escape. Academically it runs at real scale — the student-faculty ratio is 21 to 1 and 33.3% of classes have fewer than 20 students — and outcomes are solid rather than exceptional: 61.7% finish in four years, 81.9% in six, with 94.2% of first-years returning. The money question is sharper for non-residents. In-state tuition and fees are $13,318 against $36,022 out of state, Auburn meets 60.0% of demonstrated need, and graduates carry $34,342 in average debt.