What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$17,974 to $25,893 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $28,224 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $13,338.Aid and debt
$27,019
average debt at graduation
526
students got merit aid
about 2% of undergraduates
$3,260
average merit award
Not reported by this school: share receiving need-based grants.
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 960–1180. The school doesn't say what share of the class submitted.
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 20–26. The school doesn't say what share of the class submitted.
SAT range and ACT range from the school's prior-year Common Data Set (2024-25) — not reported in Boise State's 2025–26 Common Data Set.
What they value
- Very important
- GPA
- Considered
- SAT/ACT scores
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Special talent
- Not considered
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- Class rank
- Extracurriculars
- Character
- First-gen status
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
Boise State doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Boise State just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Boise State essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
34.5% of Boise State classes have fewer than 20 students.
34.5%
under 20 students
54%
20 to 49
11.5%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Boise State CDS 2025–26, I-3.
20:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
41%
first-years from out of state
Who attends
- White68.4%
- Hispanic15.7%
- Multiracial5.7%
- Unknown / other3.9%
- Asian2.6%
- Black2.1%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Boise State CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
42.7% of Boise State students graduate in 4 years.
42.7%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
60%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
78.5%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
50% finish in 6 years, against 60% of all students.
A 10-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
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.
MoreLess
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.
The City
Mid-size city
Boise, ID
Best For
Notable alumni
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.
Traditions
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 from Boise
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 and game days
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
Internships and jobs nearby
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
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 52.0% 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.