,·Private (United Methodist) Liberal Arts College·Est. 1885
“A small United Methodist liberal arts college in rural Kansas, where ~700 traditional undergrads share a campus with a much larger online Professional Studies division.”
Southwestern College is a small, private liberal arts college in Winfield, Kansas, founded in 1885 by the Southwest Kansas Conference of the Methodist Church and still affiliated with the United Methodist Church today. Often confused with several other 'Southwestern' colleges across the United States, this one sits on an 82-acre residential campus about 40 miles south of Wichita in rural south-central Kansas, where the school's purple-and-white identity, Moundbuilder mascot, and the literal stone Mound at the heart of campus have anchored student life for more than 130 years. The college runs as two distinct institutions under one name. The Winfield campus serves roughly 700 traditional undergraduates in a tight-knit residential setting with a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio, semester calendar, and 36 main-campus majors spanning the sciences, business, education, ministry, and the arts. Signature traditional-campus programs include music and musical theatre (accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, with the Bachelor of Music in Performance and BFA in Musical Theatre staged in the Richardson Performing Arts Center), a newly launched Bachelor of Science in Nursing approved by the Kansas State Board of Nursing in December 2024, education, accounting, and the natural sciences — each of which fields a competitive full-tuition scholarship every year. Separately, Southwestern College Professional Studies (sometimes called 'SCPS') runs an online and hybrid degree pipeline aimed at working adults, offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs through six-week sessions that begin eight times a year, taught at scale to a much larger non-traditional learner population than Winfield itself. Athletically, Southwestern competes in NAIA's Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) as the Moundbuilders, with 19 sports including football, soccer, basketball, track & field (the men have won 30 consecutive conference titles), and as of 2023 women's flag football. Campus traditions include the annual Moundbuilding ceremony, the Jinx (the school's black-cat spirit mascot), and the renovated Richardson Performing Arts Center inside the historic Christy Administration Building. Honest framing for an international student: this is a small, religiously affiliated, rural Kansas LAC — closer in feel to a Methodist boarding-school-meets-college than a research university, with low selectivity, high merit aid, and a campus where most international students will be visibly part of a tiny global cohort.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceInternational — Fall enrollment
Complete file (transcripts, English proficiency, financial documents) due July 1.
International — Spring enrollment
Complete file due December 1 for spring start.
Domestic — Regular
Rolling admissions; final domestic deadline ~mid-August before fall start.
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$39,822 – $41,680
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
Residential undergraduate division on the Winfield campus offering 36 majors, 27 minors, and teacher certification in 5 areas to roughly 700 traditional students. Semester calendar, 9:1 student-faculty ratio.
Online and hybrid division for working adults offering 16 undergraduate majors plus master's and doctoral programs across six-week sessions that begin eight times a year. Serves a much larger headcount than the residential campus, with up to 94 transfer credits accepted toward bachelor's degrees.
NASM-accredited music and musical theatre programs staged out of the Richardson Performing Arts Center inside the Christy Administration Building. Strengthened historically by the 1926 merger of the Winfield College of Music into Southwestern.
Pre-health and life-science pipeline anchored by the Mastin Scholar full-tuition science competition and, since December 2024, a Kansas State Board of Nursing-approved BSN program admitting its first cohort.
Methodist heritage shows up most clearly here: teacher-certification tracks in 5 areas plus Christian Discipleship Studies tied to the Wilke Institute for Discipleship.
4 years
Southwestern's longest-running national signature: NASM-accredited performance degrees rooted in the 1926 absorption of the Winfield College of Music. Productions and recitals are staged in the renovated Richardson Performing Arts Center. Performing Arts is one of five disciplines that runs an annual full-tuition scholarship competition.
4 years
Newest flagship program — full Kansas State Board of Nursing approval was granted in December 2024, allowing Southwestern to admit its first BSN cohort. Nursing is one of the five full-tuition scholarship competitions, signaling the college's commitment to building this program out.
4 years
A separate world from the Winfield residential experience: 100% online, six-week course sessions starting eight times per year, up to 94 transfer credits accepted, dedicated Academic Success Coach for every learner. Aimed at working adults, US military, and non-traditional learners — not international F-1 students, since F-1 visa rules cap online coursework.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $39,822
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
