Shawnee State University is a public institution of higher education located in a suburban neighborhood of Portsmouth, Ohio, having been founded in 1986 on some 50 acres of land. It is the newest member of Ohio’s state-controlled university system and actually occupies the same campus which was previously the home of the Ohio University Southern Campus (which moved elsewhere before Shawnee was established).
| Overall Score (about) | 64.5 |
| Total Cost On-Campus Attendance | $23,148 |
| Admission Success rate | N/A |
| Student Ratio Students-to-Faculty | 19 : 1 |
| Retention (full-time / part-time) | 70% / 80% |
| Enrollment Total (all students) | 3,253 |
The academic accreditation of Shawnee State University is provided by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (with the school having recently been admitted to that organization’s Academic Quality Improvement Program).
Over 80 programs are available for students to pursue at the associate as well as the bachelor’s level, and as of 2007 the school introduced its first graduate level programs. Among the academic majors which students as Shawnee State University may pursue are those in Mathematics, Journalism, Computer Science, and the Social Sciences. Particularly popular and well-respected are the programs in the health sciences and business.
Though technically speaking Shawnee State University implements a minimally selective admissions policy, it is common for the school to accept 100% of applicants for a given academic semester. Notwithstanding, select academic programs at Shawnee State University may implement more restrictive admissions policies, and therefore the 100% admission rate to the school as a whole does not necessarily imply that all applicants ended up in the program of their choice.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis by the school and students are allowed to start studies at several points throughout the year; there is no application fee at the school.
Shawnee State University has several different forms of financial aid available for students, and the majority of funds are distributed on the basis of need. Non-need based financial aid at Shawnee State University is allocated strictly on the basis of demonstrated academic performance.
The most important form that students must submit to be considered for financial aid at Shawnee State University is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), though the school also has its own financial aid application for institutional grants/loans. Applicants are encouraged to submit their FAFSA forms as early as possible, and the deadline for Fall applicants is near the end of the month of June, while for priority applicants this deadline falls a little sooner, towards the middle of June.
The student body at Shawnee State University tops 4,000 on a typical semester, making this a medium-sized school. There are myriad student organizations and clubs operating on and off campus at Shawnee State University, and a token sampling of such groups would include the Campus Ministry, the Phi Eta Sigma honor society, the Shawnee Democratic Society, the University Chronicle (student-run school newspaper), and the Environmental Club. The school’s Student Government Association is responsible for regulating the activities of all such clubs and organizations, and it is part of the National Student Government Association.
There are several different student housing complexes available on the campus of Shawnee State University, and they have quite a good reputation due to the relatively unique fact that they are all designed in apartment-style (unlike the typical dorm design implemented on most other campuses). Students also have a complete student and faculty dining facility available on campus.
The athletics department at Shawnee State University is quite well funded and the school has a strong reputation for success in various sports. The school’s teams are collectively referred to as The Bears and the official competing colors of the school are royal blue and dove gray. In all, the school has competing teams in the following sports: for men, baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, and soccer; and for women, basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, and volleyball.
The school competes within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Division II, and is part of the American Mideast Conference (as of 1991). The Bears have had participation in 24 different national championships. A few of the most successful moments the school’s sports teams have experienced were the following: the victory in the 1999 national championship of the school’s women’s basketball team; the second place result of the school’s softball team in the 1996 championship; and the 1995 women’s basketball team making it into the final four.
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