Stephen F Austin State University

Public · Moderately Selective · TX

Photo: Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationTX · South

SettingRural

Undergrads8,728

Student:faculty16:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate38.9%

6-yr grad rate53.3%

Drop-out rate28.3%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$11k

Out-of-state tuition$23k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity44.5%

Gender diversity63.2%

International0.9%

Identity—

Overview

Stephen F Austin State University sits in Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, surrounded by the piney woods of deep East Texas. The setting is not incidental — it directly shapes the university's most distinctive academic identity — and SFA occupies a clear niche among Texas's public universities as a smaller, more traditionally residential option relative to the state's large metro-area systems.

Academics

Forestry is SFA's signature program, offered through the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, one of relatively few standalone forestry degree programs in Texas, and a natural fit for its timber-country location. The university also offers solid, practically oriented degrees in education, nursing, and business. The arboretum-like character of the campus itself, including the SFA Gardens, doubles as a living resource for forestry and natural-resource students rather than just landscaping.

Campus & student life

The East Texas piney-woods setting gives SFA a quieter, small-town college experience distinct from Texas's larger metro-area universities, with a campus landscape that reflects and supports its forestry and agriculture-adjacent programs. Lumberjack athletics, particularly a men's basketball program that has produced real NCAA tournament upsets as a mid-major, give the campus a genuine underdog sports identity distinct from Texas's larger football-first programs.

Getting in

Admission is generally accessible rather than highly selective, with academic preparation and program fit mattering more than a competitive essay process. Forestry and other specialized program applicants benefit from clearly articulating that interest, since it is a genuinely distinguishing feature of an SFA application relative to more generic regional-university choices.

After graduation

Forestry graduates move directly into timber industry, land management, and conservation careers across East Texas and the broader South, a pipeline the program has cultivated for decades. Education, nursing, and business graduates likewise tend to stay regional, filling East Texas workforce needs.

Worth knowing

Students seriously considering forestry or natural-resource management should weigh SFA heavily, since standalone forestry degree programs are genuinely uncommon in Texas and the campus's own wooded setting functions as a practical teaching resource, not just scenery.

sfasu.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate94%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 970–1170 · ACT 18–24

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying