Faculty to Student Ratio

Interpreting the Ratio between the student and teacher.

When it comes down to it, what does the student-to-faculty ratio at a school really mean? In a literal sense, this term applies to how many faculty members there are at a school in comparison to the number of students. According to U.S. News and World Report, for example, the University of Missouri has a student-to-faculty ratio of 20:1. This means that there is one faculty member for every twenty students at the school. Meanwhile, Lawrence University has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the national average for college student-to-faculty ratios is 18:1.

In a broader sense, a student-to-faculty ratio may also tell you a few things about the type of academic environment at that school. Schools with a large number of students tend to have higher ratios as well. Let’s look at the two examples from above; while the University of Missouri has nearly 27,000 students enrolled, Lawrence University has around 1,500 students. In addition, schools with high student-to-faculty ratios also tend to have larger class sizes. At the University of Missouri, 45.9 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students; at Lawrence University, that percentage goes up to 78.4. These factors will clearly influence what type of experience a student has in school, so it’s important to consider student-to-faculty ratio when looking for a school match.