Vermont State University

Public · Moderately Selective · VT

Photo: Artaxerxes (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationVT · Northeast

SettingRural

Undergrads3,590

Student:faculty13:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate32.6%

6-yr grad rate47.2%

Drop-out rate32.2%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$12k

Out-of-state tuition$22k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity21%

Gender diversity56.2%

International2.5%

Identity—

Overview

Vermont State University was created in 2023 by merging Castleton University, Northern Vermont University (Johnson and Lyndon), and Vermont Technical College into a single institution operating across multiple campuses statewide. It carries forward each predecessor's identity in practice, since students still attend classes rooted in a particular campus location, while sharing one administration, one price structure, and one degree-granting authority. The mission centers on serving Vermont's small towns and rural communities affordably, at a scale no single Vermont campus could sustain alone.

Academics

Programs are inherited from the merged institutions, so strengths cluster by campus location: education and criminal justice from the Castleton side, environmental and outdoor-focused liberal arts from the northern campuses, and hands-on technical and health fields, including nursing, veterinary technology, and engineering technology, from Vermont Tech. Class sizes stay small across the system, and applied, career-connected coursework is emphasized over a traditional research-university model.

Campus & student life

Campuses sit in small Vermont towns, including Castleton, Johnson, Lyndonville, and Randolph Center, each with its own residential feel rather than one unified main quad. Outdoor recreation, from skiing to hiking, is part of daily life given the setting, and athletics and clubs still largely organize by home campus even under the shared university name.

Worth knowing

The 2023 merger is still working itself out in practice: advising, course catalogs, and campus culture are converging gradually rather than all at once, so a prospective student should ask directly how integrated a given program or campus is at the time they apply. Cost and access remain the driving institutional values, with in-state affordability as a central selling point.

vermontstate.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate81.7%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying