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The University of Montana - Western Data & Information Overview

7 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
36% Acceptance Rate
Find out more about how The University of Montana - Western ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below. 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.

How Well Is The University of Montana - Western Ranked?

#1,062 Best Colleges in Nation
#4 Best Colleges in MT
Teacher Education Grade Specific Highest Ranked Major

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.

The University of Montana - Western was awarded 7 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is teacher education grade specific.

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Overall Quality

Montana Western is ranked #1,062 out of 2,152 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2025 Best Colleges list.

Montana Western is also ranked #4 out of 12 schools in Montana.

See all of the rankings for The University of Montana - Western.

Is It Hard to Get Into Montana Western?

36% Acceptance Rate
59% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

The University of Montana - Western has an acceptance rate of 36%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for Montana Western.

Learn more about The University of Montana - Western admissions.

The University of Montana - Western Faculty

15 to 1 Student to Faculty
65% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to estimate how much interaction there is between professors and their students at a college or university. At The University of Montana - Western, this ratio is 15 to 1, which is on par with the national average of 15 to 1. That's not bad at all.

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 The University of Montana - Western is 65%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  65 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at The University of Montana - Western

71% Freshmen Retention
28% 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 The University of Montana - Western is 71%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  71 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 Montana Western this rate is 28%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  28 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at The University of Montana - Western.

The University of Montana - Western Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,060 Full-Time Undergraduates
15.5% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
62.3% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 1,334 undergraduates at Montana Western with 1,060 being full-time and 274 being part-time.

How Much Does The University of Montana - Western Cost?

$14,064 Net Price
84% Take Out Loans
$31,648 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Montana Western is $14,064. 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 Montana Western

$0-30 K$30K-48K$48-75$75-110K$110K +
$10,314$11,718$15,529$18,632$18,168

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 Montana Western, 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 Montana Western, approximately 84% of students took out student loans averaging $7,912 a year. That adds up to $31,648 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for The University of Montana - Western.

How Much Money Do Montana Western Graduates Make?

$43,229 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Montana Western make around $43,229 per year during the early years of their employment. This is right on par with the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year. Also, graduates in your major field may make more.

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See which majors at The University of Montana - Western make the most money.

Location of The University of Montana - Western

Montana State
1,060 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Located in Dillon, Montana, The University of Montana - Western is a public institution. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Dillon draws many to the area.

Get more details about the location of The University of Montana - Western.

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Contact details for Montana Western are given below.

Contact Details
Address:710 S Atlantic, Dillon, MT 59725-3598
Phone:406-683-7011
Website:umwestern.edu/

The University of Montana - Western Majors

22 Majors With Completions
850 Undergraduate Degrees
850 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 22 majors graduated from The University of Montana - Western. Of these students, 850 received undergraduate degrees and 850 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 MajorsBachelor’s DegreesAverage Salary of Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific166$36,742
Liberal Arts General Studies55NA
Business Administration & Management42$35,880
Teacher Education Subject Specific31$38,151
General Education23NA
Animal Services17NA
Natural Resources Conservation17NA
Health & Physical Education16NA
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology10NA
General Biology10NA

Learn more about the majors offered at The University of Montana - Western along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Montana Western

29% Take At Least One Class Online
22% 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, 409 students took at least one online class at The University of Montana - Western. This is a decrease from the 439 students who took online classes the previous year.

YearTook at Least One Online ClassTook All Classes Online
2022-2023409309
2021-2022439286
2020-2021983263
2018-2019479254

Learn more about online learning at The University of Montana - Western.

If you’re considering The University of Montana - Western, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Montana Western? 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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