At a Glance
Boise State admits 83.9% 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
$27,019
average debt at graduation
Boise State graduates carry an average of $27,019 in debt.
Merit Aid
526
students received merit aid
$3,260
average merit award
Getting In
Boise State admits 83.9% of applicants.
This school reports SAT section scores but leaves the composite range blank, so there is no mid-50% band to chart.
ACT composite range not reported by this school.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Boise State University gives essays less weight than many schools — academics drive most admissions decisions here. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
34.5% of Boise State 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 Boise State, 34.5% 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)
20:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
41%
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."
Boise State's student body is 68.4% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Boise State graduates 42.7% 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.
Boise State graduates 42.7% 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.
Boise State
42.7%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $28,224*
* 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.
60%
Overall 6-yr rate
50%
Pell recipient rate
A 10 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
78.5%
78.5% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Boise.
Boise has quietly become one of the most livable mid-size cities in the American West — with a genuine downtown, a fast-growing food and craft beer scene, and year-round outdoor access that most college cities can't touch. It's grown quickly over the past decade, which means more opportunity but also higher rents and more traffic than it used to have. Students who thrive here tend to love the balance between urban energy and getting outside fast.
Notable Alumni
Kellen Moore
Left Boise State as the winningest quarterback in major-college football history at 50-3, including the undefeated 2009 season, before a long career as an NFL coach.
Class of 2012
Ian Johnson
Ran the Statue of Liberty two-point conversion that beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl — the play that put Boise State on the national map — and proposed to a cheerleader on the field moments later.
Class of 2008
John D. Jackson
Opened a single service station in Caldwell at twenty and grew it into Jacksons Food Stores, now more than 1,500 stores across eleven states. Honoured in Boise State's 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Lesley Slaton Brown
Senior executive at the NBA and HP, where she built inclusion into core business strategy, and a Boise State 2025 Distinguished Alumni honoree.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Mid-size city
Boise, ID
Best For
Traditions
Albertsons Stadium Blue Turf
Boise State plays on one of the most iconic fields in college sports — the famous blue turf at Albertsons Stadium that has become a national symbol of the program. Attending your first home game and seeing it in person is a genuine rite of passage for new Broncos.
Celebrate! Boise State
Each fall, the university hosts a community-wide kickoff celebration on campus that blends live music, food, student organization fairs, and a street party atmosphere. It's one of the best ways for new students to find their people in the first weeks of school.
Big Blue Howl
Before big athletic events, students gather for the Big Blue Howl — a pep rally tradition that fills campus with team spirit, student performances, and Buster Bronco appearances. It captures the tight-knit energy between Boise State athletics and everyday student life.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Boise
Sun Valley, ID
2.5 hoursA world-class ski and outdoor resort town that feels far more epic than its Idaho address suggests — skiing, hiking, and a surprisingly vibrant arts scene all in one place.
Sawtooth National Recreation Area
2.5 hoursOne of the most stunning and underrated wilderness areas in the country, with jagged peaks, alpine lakes, and trails that genuinely rival anything in the national park system.
Portland, OR
5 hoursA full-featured Pacific Northwest city with world-class food, music, and culture — ideal for a long weekend when you need a real urban fix.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Boise Airport (BOI)
10 minutes from campus
For international flights: Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) — about 5 hours by car.
Pro sports nearby
- Boise Hawks MiLBAbout 15 minutes away
- Idaho Steelheads ECHLAbout 10 minutes away
- Utah Jazz NBAAbout 5 hours away
Career Proximity
Boise's booming tech and healthcare economy has created a growing pipeline of internship opportunities right outside campus.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Micron Technology
- St. Luke's Health System
- Hewlett-Packard
- Idaho Power
- Clearwater Analytics
Downtown Boise — less than 1 mile from campus
Who Thrives Here
Boise State admits 83.9% of applicants into a 25,308-student undergraduate body sitting directly in Idaho's capital, and 41.0% of it comes from outside the state — unusual reach for a public this size, and a sign the draw is the city as much as the school. The trade-off is completion: 78.5% of first-years return, 60.0% finish within six years and 42.7% in four, the lowest four-year rate of these numbers by some distance. Aid meets 59.0% of need and graduates who borrow leave owing $27,019, so the arithmetic deserves doing before the deposit rather than after. Classes run 34.5% under 20 students at 20 per faculty member. Boise State also leaves C8A unanswered, so what it does with a test score is genuinely not on the record — worth asking admissions directly rather than assuming.