College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
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Central Washington University Data & Information Overview

46 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
93% Acceptance Rate
Find out more about how Central Washington University ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below.
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How Well Is Central Washington University Ranked?

#339 Best Colleges in Nation
#6 Best Colleges in WA
Physical Education Teaching & Coaching Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2025 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Central Washington University was awarded 46 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is physical education teaching & coaching.

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Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2025 analysis, CWU is ranked #339 out of 2,152 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when CWU held the #357 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

CWU also holds the #6 spot on the Best Colleges in Washington ranking.

See all of the rankings for Central Washington University.

Is It Hard to Get Into CWU?

93% Acceptance Rate
57% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

With an acceptance rate of 93%, CWU has a fairly liberal admissions policy. However, don't just assume you'll get in! Put together a good application and make sure you include all requested documents and materials.

Learn more about Central Washington University admissions.

Central Washington University Faculty

14 to 1 Student to Faculty
74% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Central Washington University is about average at 14 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Central Washington University is 74%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  74 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Central Washington University

68% Freshmen Retention
34% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Central Washington University is 68%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  68 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor's degree with four years. At CWU this rate is 34%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  34 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Central Washington University.

Central Washington University Undergraduate Student Diversity

9,235 Full-Time Undergraduates
37.4% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
53.9% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 10,518 undergraduates at CWU with 9,235 being full-time and 1,283 being part-time.

How Much Does Central Washington University Cost?

$16,768 Net Price
52% Take Out Loans
$22,760 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of CWU is $16,768. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for CWU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$10,471 $13,120 $15,541 $21,039 $24,287

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of CWU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At CWU, approximately 52% of students took out student loans averaging $5,690 a year. That adds up to $22,760 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for Central Washington University.

How Much Money Do CWU Graduates Make?

$61,580 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from CWU make around $61,580 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future CWU graduates since it is 25% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

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See which majors at Central Washington University make the most money.

Location of Central Washington University

Washington State
9,235 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Central Washington University is a public institution situated in Ellensburg, Washington. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Ellensburg draws many to the area.

Get more details about the location of Central Washington University.

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Contact details for CWU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926
Phone: 509-963-1111
Website: www.cwu.edu/

Central Washington University Majors

118 Majors With Completions
5,882 Undergraduate Degrees
5,874 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 118 majors graduated from Central Washington University. Of these students, 5,882 received undergraduate degrees and 5,874 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Business Administration & Management 276 $49,791
Teacher Education Grade Specific 246 $47,359
Teacher Education Subject Specific 211 $49,177
General Psychology 181 $36,964
Criminal Justice & Corrections 144 $44,172
Health & Physical Education 133 $35,268
Accounting 107 $55,215
Air Transportation 107 $40,025
Sociology 74 $36,466
Computer Information Systems 71 $56,049

Learn more about the majors offered at Central Washington University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at CWU

69% Take At Least One Class Online
27% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

In 2022-2023, 6,394 students took at least one online class at Central Washington University. This is a decrease from the 7,332 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2022-2023 6,394 2,498
2021-2022 7,332 2,921
2020-2021 10,833 7,145
2018-2019 10,706 3,033

Learn more about online learning at Central Washington University.

If you’re considering Central Washington University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against CWU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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