Southern New Hampshire University
Overview
Mission
Southern New Hampshire University transforms lives by expanding access to education through high-quality, workforce relevant, and meaningful learning experiences, and drives equitable outcomes through learner-centric pathways and support designed to meet individual needs. Southern New Hampshire University is committed to keeping tuition not only affordable, but competitive. As a nonprofit university, our only mission is to transform the lives of our learners and help them reach their fullest potential. So we work hard to make our programs affordable to all. In fact, we have full-time financial aid counselors available to discuss options with you and ensure that your education moves forward at a pace, and at a cost, that works best for you. And, our tuition rates are highly competitive, at $659 per credit. With 36 credits to complete the degree, your total tuition cost works out to...
What it reported doing in 2024
Instruction and Student Services: Southern New Hampshire University ("The University") is a private coeducational institution. Our degree-seeking student population consists of approximately 3,168 traditional undergraduate and graduate day students; 214,054 undergraduate and graduate distance education students; and 3,771 students in competency-based education programs. The University offers 41 certificate programs in a variety of fields. The University offers 16 Associate's degree programs in Accounting, Information Technologies, Education, Digital Photography, Healthcare Management, Liberal Arts, Criminal Justice, General Studies, Marketing, Business Administration, Computer Science, Cyber Security, Data Analytics and Marketing. Bachelor's degrees are offered in 78 programs in Business, Education, Healthcare, Nursing, Mathematics, Information Technology, Computer Science, Liberal Arts, Social Science, Engineering, Air Traffic Management, Aviation Management, Construction Management, Biology, (Continued in Schedule O)
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 94% of its reported program work directly.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 020274509
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Website reviewed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- Manchester, NH, USA
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Universities
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the website gives limited detail about important organizational relationships.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.5%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 76.6%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
- Public monitoring controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public policy transparency: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public financial transparency: 0 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Impact reporting controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public relationship transparency: No; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Public governance controls: 1 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.8%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 1.41; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.7%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 67.5% of revenue deployed · 76.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1B in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.9M · 31 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 46 of 47 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 38 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 26 filed related-organization links