Central Washington University Data & Information Overview
If you want to know more about Central Washington University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource. If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is Central Washington University Ranked?
2022 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 369 badges in the 2022 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is pre-nursing studies.
Overall Quality
CWU is ranked #708 out of 2,576 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2022 Best Colleges list. This is an improvement over the previous year, when CWU held the #782 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
CWU also holds the #17 spot on the Best Colleges in Washington ranking.
See all of the rankings for Central Washington University.
Is It Hard to Get Into CWU?
Acceptance Rate
With an acceptance rate of 86%, 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.
Average Test Scores
About 69% of students accepted to CWU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 580. Math scores were between 460 and 570.
Learn more about Central Washington University admissions.
Central Washington University Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio is often used as a measure to gauge how much access students will have to their professors - the lower the number, the better. At Central Washington University, this rate is 20 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 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 63%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Central Washington University
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 70%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
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 29%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Central Washington University.
Central Washington University Undergraduate Student Diversity
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?
The overall average net price of CWU is $15,397. 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9,875 | $11,423 | $15,744 | $20,133 | $21,256 |
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 58% of students took out student loans averaging $6,315 a year. That adds up to $25,260 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at CWU is 6.9%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.
Get more details about paying for Central Washington University.
How Much Money Do CWU Graduates Make?
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from CWU make about $46,500 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future CWU graduates since it is 17% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.
See which majors at Central Washington University make the most money.
Location of Central Washington University
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.
Contact details for CWU are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926-7501 |
| Phone: | 509-963-1111 |
| Website: | www.cwu.edu/ |
| Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/cwu.wildcats |
| Twitter: | http://twitter.com/CentralWashU |
Central Washington University Majors
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 113 majors graduated from Central Washington University. Of these students, 2,883 received undergraduate degrees and 305 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 | 334 | $45,256 |
| General Psychology | 211 | $31,439 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 207 | $45,410 |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 143 | $41,912 |
| Accounting | 143 | $47,173 |
| General Social Sciences | 108 | $38,649 |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 106 | $43,351 |
| Marketing | 83 | NA |
| Information Technology | 77 | NA |
| General Biology | 62 | $30,687 |
Online Learning at CWU
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 2019-2020, 10,833 students took at least one online class at Central Washington University. This is an increase from the 10,718 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 10,833 | 7,145 |
| 2018-2019 | 10,718 | 2,971 |
| 2017-2018 | 11,052 | 3,180 |
| 2016-2017 | 4,770 | 1,855 |
| 2015-2016 | 4,050 | 1,743 |
Learn more about online learning at Central Washington University.
Find Out More About Central Washington University
Related Schools
If you’re considering Central Washington University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
- California State University - Chico
- California State University - Sacramento
- Humboldt State University
- Southern Oregon University
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Bobak Ha’Eri under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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