Bowling Green State University: Fees, Reviews, Rankings, Courses & Contact info

Overview
Finances
Eligibility
Department and Faculty
Campus and facilities

Overview

About Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is an experiential learning focused public university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, that is recognized as one of the best in the nation by the Wall Street Journal for 6 years in a row. It is a comprehensive public institution well known for its superb facilities, excellent student satisfaction ratings, and for providing a diverse selection of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs across a comprehensive range of subject areas.

There are more than 200 undergraduate programs available, spanning several academic departments and research centers in natural and social sciences, education, arts, business, health and wellness, humanities and applied technologies. It boasts unique programs in areas like AI, architecture, aviation and marine and aquatic biology.

For more than 114 years, the university has served the state of Ohio and its public, delivering top tier education and instilling its students with the motivation to push boundaries and achieve excellence. Today, the university has a total enrolment of over 23,000 students and its campus is home to a resident population numbering around 7,000.

BGSU is one of only eight universities in the United States selected to participate in the National Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Accelerator, highlighting the university’s leadership in connecting academic study with real-world experience. It is also ranked No. 1 in Ohio for career preparation, building on more than 60 years of success in co-op and work-based learning.

Students are well catered for, with a large student life program offering plenty of extra-curricular enrichment opportunities and more than 400 student organizations to join. The university’s athletics teams, the Bowling Green Falcons, compete at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference.

University ranking

Times Higher Education World University Rankings

2025 1001

2024 1001

What’s New

BGSU’s new AI + X degree, which combines Artificial Intelligence with another subject, is the first of its kind in the US. AI + X is an innovative, interdisciplinary degree that lets students personalize their education by combining artificial intelligence with a secondary disciplinary focus – the “X.”

The university picked up several top accolades in the 2024 Wall Street Journal rankings including:

Ranked as Ohio’s top public or private university for student experience (6th year in a row)

Rated No. 1 university in the Midwest and beyond, that students would choose again (6th year in a row)

Top spot in the Midwest for students who say they made the right choice in their college decision, for the fourth consecutive year (5th year in a row)

The new student experience category was powered by one of the largest-ever independent surveys of verified US college students and graduates.

BGSU also welcomes one of its largest ever freshman classes with first-time student enrolment up 7 percent at nearly 3,500 students, as well as a historically high retention rate of 80 percent for first year returning students.

BGSU has been selected as one of only eight institutions nationwide (and the only representative from the Midwest) to join the National Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Accelerator, led by Arizona State University in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase.

Building on BGSU’s No. 1 ranking in Ohio for career readiness and the work of the Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections, the initiative strengthens the link between academic learning and industry needs. Through partnerships with regional and national employers, students will take part in hands-on projects that build professional skills and networks, while promoting equitable access to career opportunities.

Strategic planning begins in Fall 2025, with pilot projects launching in Spring 2026 under a cross-university leadership team spanning corporate partnerships, academic affairs, IT, and career design.

Finances

How much will it cost?

Average tuition fees per year

US$20,000 Undergraduate Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details

US$21,182 Postgraduate Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details

Scholarships & funding

BGSU is a well-funded institution that understands the cost of embarking upon an undergraduate degree, along with moving city or even country to live and study in Ohio, can be a significant undertaking.

The university works hard to ensure fair access to its high-quality curriculum, and aims to ensure students from a diversity of backgrounds are able to study here, and be part of the BGSU community and culture while reducing the overall amount of student debt after graduation.

This is why BGSU offers an impressive program of scholarships, grants, and financial aid schemes which students are eligible on both merit-based and means-tested criteria.

More than 90 percent of all new BGSU students receive some form of financial assistance. This is often given in the form of a reduction on tuition fees, but can also be used to pay for accommodation, meals, books, transportation and other personal expenses.

There is a huge number of scholarships available at BGSU, and the best thing of all is that once a student is admitted, the university will automatically consider them for funding opportunities and will begin making scholarship offers based on their individual credentials.

BGSU also offers Falcon Tuition Guarantee, where students entering a specific cohort for a Fall semester start will not see increase of any tuition for their duration of the studies.

Discover scholarships

Bowling Green State University provides scholarship for students enrolling for the courses offered by them
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Eligibility

Entry requirements

BGSU offers a broad selection of academic programs across undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degree levels. As a result, entry requirements can vary significantly depending on the specific program chosen.

Prospective students are advised to check the university website for detailed admission criteria related to their chosen course of study, and to familiarize themselves with any important submission deadlines.

Undergraduate applications take place online, and typically include the submission of a student's prior educational records, such as high school transcripts. Some subjects may require additional submission materials, such as a cover letter, a small portfolio of work, and in some cases the attendance of a preliminary interview.

As BGSU courses are delivered in English, there is a minimum standard of English language proficiency which all non-native English speakers are required to demonstrate before being enrolled onto a program.

Department and Faculty

Teaching quality

Students at BGSU benefit from being taught by an academic faculty that has more than a century of educational heritage, and upholds a reputation for excellence which is regularly recognized by national publications and assessment systems.

Most recently, BGSU has been recognized by Times Higher Education and the Wall Street Journal for the high quality of its teaching, ranking No. 3 among all public universities in the country. These rankings have been designed to provide the best and most useful information to prospective students and their families, and defines quality of teaching by “how well it manages to inform, inspire and challenge students.”

More than 800 U.S. colleges and universities took part in the study, and the result places BGSU firmly within the top one percent of those analyzed. Students are taught by experienced staff, in relatively small class sizes, with an overall student-to-faculty ratio of 18:1.

The university excels in student satisfaction metrics and, on this basis, is ranked as the No. 1 public university in the Midwest.

Department structure

BGSU offers a wide range of more than 200 undergraduate majors and confers degrees, delivered by a highly qualified teaching faculty, and distributed across a variety of subject areas.

Bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees are delivered via the university’s eight departmental colleges, which form the basis of BGSU’s educational structure:

College of Arts and Sciences

Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business

College of Education and Human Development

Firelands College

College of Health and Human Services

College of Musical Arts

College of Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering

Graduate College

Each college has a distinct approach towards teaching while upholding BGSU’s overall approach toward research and tuition, and these departments work alongside each other to achieve the university’s research targets.

Since 1916, Bowling Green has been fully accredited by the North Central Association of the Higher Learning Commission and is also accredited to offer full degree programs online by the HLC.

Campus and facilities

Facilities

The BGSU campus is located on the northeast side of Bowling Green, on over 1,300 acres of beautifully landscaped ground, featuring plenty of green space and many wide tree-lined avenues. It is a comprehensive learning environment with superb educational infrastructure and recreational facilities, as well as convenient amenities for those living on site.

There are nine residence halls, all offering comfortable and convenient living at a reasonable price, in a safe and secure student environment just minutes away from the university’s lecture halls, classrooms and laboratories.

The Jerome Library is BGSU’s large and well-resourced main resource center, home to hundreds of thousands of books, journals, and digital resources, as well as many special collections. The campus also contains sports facilities, a health and wellness center, coffee shops, cafés and much more.

Students have access to subject-specific equipment and industry standard teaching technologies embedded throughout the whole campus. The Bowen-Thompson Student Union is a busy hub of student activity, providing a range of services and spaces for students’ needs.