College of Saint Benedict

About College of Saint Benedict

The College of Saint Benedict is a degree-granting institution founded by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict. The sisters received a Minnesota educational charter in 1887, while the first college courses were offered in 1913. The college's mission centers on undergraduate residential liberal-arts education for women, alongside selected graduate programs, within Catholic and Benedictine traditions. CSB's defining organizational feature is its partnership with Saint John's University. They are two colleges rather than a merged university, but they share a president, academic programs, faculty, administration, and many student services. Students enroll in and receive degrees from one institution while taking part in a broadly coeducational learning environment across both campuses. This arrangement expands course, facility, activity, and peer options beyond those normally associated with a single small college. Prospective students should understand both sides of that model. CSB offers the identity and leadership opportunities of a women's college, while much of everyday academic and social life is shared with SJU students. The institutions are Catholic and Benedictine, and those traditions influence their stated emphasis on community, reflection, service, and stewardship. Students of different backgrounds participate in the same academic community, but applicants should assess whether the religious heritage and residential expectations suit them. CSB is located on a 315-acre campus beside Saint Joseph. Its undergraduate facilities include a library, science center, campus center, dining facilities, athletic spaces, and residence halls. Graduate education is narrower than the undergraduate portfolio and is concentrated in nursing rather than spanning the full set of liberal-arts disciplines.

Domestic first-year applicants may use either the free CSB+SJU application or the Common Application. The published required material is an official high-school transcript, plus official college transcripts for any completed college work. An essay and recommendations are recommended rather than required. CSB uses test-optional admission: most applicants can choose whether to provide ACT or SAT scores, and the institution says an application without scores is not disadvantaged. Exceptions apply to some home-schooled students without college, AP, or PSEO coursework, students from nongraded schools, and international applicants who must document English proficiency. Review is holistic. The admission office considers academic preparation, grades, curricular strength, writing when supplied, extracurricular participation, leadership, and potential contribution to the community. Its recommended secondary-school preparation includes four years of English, three years of mathematics through advanced algebra, two years of social science, and two years of laboratory science beyond ninth grade. These are preparation recommendations, not a promise of admission. International applicants have additional requirements. They must submit academic records, a teacher evaluation, and the international financial-aid application. Applicants whose primary language of instruction throughout secondary school was not English must provide an approved English-proficiency assessment, such as TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo English Test, or PTE Academic. Accepted students seeking an I-20 must later document sufficient finances. The international essay is described as optional, and SAT or ACT results are recommended but not generally required apart from their possible use for English proficiency. The admissions site listed March 15 for financial-aid forms and May 1 for the tuition deposit as of August 2026. Applicants should confirm the date tied to their own entry term because application and scholarship timelines can change.

For 2026–2027, CSB and SJU use a shared undergraduate curriculum combining the Integrations Curriculum with a major. The common curriculum draws across the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and fine arts, while the major provides sustained disciplinary study. A typical semester consists of four four-credit courses, and students normally meet with a faculty adviser before registration. The official catalog lists undergraduate majors including accounting, art, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, data science, economics, elementary education, English, environmental studies, exercise and health science, finance, global business leadership, Hispanic studies, history, mathematics, music, nursing, nutrition, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, social science, sociology and anthropology, strategic communication studies, and theology. Minors and interdisciplinary options extend into areas such as climate studies, entrepreneurship, gender studies, global health, neuroscience, theater and dance, and writing. Students can also investigate pre-professional preparation in fields such as engineering, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and veterinary medicine; these are preparation pathways, not necessarily stand-alone majors. CSB awards the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, while its other four-year programs lead to the Bachelor of Arts. The college also offers three graduate nursing pathways: a Master of Science in Nursing, a Doctor of Nursing Practice–Family Nurse Practitioner, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice–Leadership. These graduate offerings have separate admission requirements and should not be confused with theology degrees awarded by Saint John's. Experiential options described by the institution include education abroad, service-learning, internships, and undergraduate research. Because students share faculty and courses across both campuses, daily schedules may involve travel between Saint Joseph and Collegeville. The free LINK shuttle makes the roughly ten-minute campus connection during class periods, evenings, and weekends.

Key Highlights

• Independent women's college with a shared coeducational academic environment through Saint John's University
• Founded under an 1887 Minnesota educational charter; first college courses were offered in 1913
• Catholic and Benedictine institutional identity
• Awards undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees under its own authority

Student Life & Environment

CSB is built around residential community. The 2026–2027 catalog states that full-time undergraduates from the first through fourth year are required to live on campus, so housing is a central part of the experience rather than an optional add-on. Residence programs at CSB and SJU are administered separately, while students participate in shared academic, social, and recreational life. Applicants who may need an exemption should consult Residential Life rather than assume that off-campus living is available. Student organizations cover academic, cultural, media, service, social-justice, recreational, and special-interest themes. CSB also has its own student senate, providing leadership and representation within the women's-college setting. Catholic campus ministry and Benedictine traditions are visible parts of campus life, alongside resources for international students and students from varied cultural backgrounds. Athletics and recreation operate across a broad two-campus environment. CSB is an active NCAA Division III member in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and maintains its own women's varsity program. Club sports, intramurals, adventure activities, and general recreation offer non-varsity routes to participation. Both campuses provide fitness facilities, pools, tennis courts, and tracks. The LINK shuttle is important to daily student life because classes, organizations, events, libraries, and recreation may be located on either campus. It runs continually during class times and on a scheduled basis in the evenings and on weekends. Students should therefore expect a community that is residential and closely connected, but physically distributed between Saint Joseph and Collegeville.

Location & Surroundings

The College of Saint Benedict campus is in Saint Joseph, a small central Minnesota community near Saint Cloud. The official catalog describes a 315-acre campus adjacent to the town. Students have nearby access to local shops, dining, and community services, while a wider range of shopping, employment, health care, and transportation options is available in the Saint Cloud area. Saint John's University is in Collegeville, about a ten-minute shuttle trip from CSB. The free LINK service operates frequently during class times and follows an evening and weekend schedule. This makes the two campuses function as a connected environment, although students should plan travel time when building schedules or attending activities. The setting is more residential and small-town than urban. The Twin Cities are approximately an hour away by road, but applicants should not treat Minneapolis–Saint Paul as part of daily campus life. Winters are cold and snowy, and moving between campuses may require practical preparation for Minnesota weather even when using the shuttle. A car is not necessary for routine campus-to-campus travel, though it may offer flexibility for off-campus errands and regional trips.

Costs & Career Outcomes

For the 2026–2027 academic year, CSB lists $59,782 in full-time tuition and required fees. The first-year federal cost-of-attendance estimate uses $13,350 for on-campus housing and food, plus estimated annual amounts of $1,000 for books, $600–$1,200 for transportation, and $1,500 for personal or miscellaneous costs. These estimates are not necessarily the student's billed total. Housing configurations and meal choices vary, and the student-accounts schedule lists CSB rooms ranging from $6,530 to $7,990 for the academic year. Residence-hall students without cooking facilities are required to purchase the continuous meal plan. The stored database tuition value of $53,884 and room-and-board value of $12,160 are older than the official 2026–2027 charges and are therefore not repeated as current figures. Applicants should use the institution's net-price and financial-aid process rather than compare schools only by published sticker price. U.S. citizens and permanent residents seeking federal aid use the FAFSA. International applicants submit a separate financial-aid application and are automatically considered for institutional scholarships; the 2026–2027 international page reports renewable scholarships of up to $40,000 per year, subject to satisfactory academic progress. Career preparation is integrated through advising, internships, undergraduate research, service-learning, and other experiential work. The institution's current academics page reports that 97% of graduates find work, while its main site reports a $64,000 median annual salary for the Class of 2025. The site does not provide enough methodological detail on those summary pages to treat either figure as a guaranteed individual outcome. Prospective students should ask for program-level placement data, response rates, graduate-school destinations, and internship access in their intended field.