by our College Data Analytics TeamWest Chester University of Pennsylvania is a public institution in West Chester, Pennsylvania enrolling 14,164 undergraduates. It accepts 78% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 71%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #214 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 4%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania ranks #214 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 4%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania was awarded 557 badges in the 2027 rankings.
College Factual ranked WCU as #214 out of 5,159 colleges and universities in the country on its 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, WCU holds the #15 spot on the Best Colleges in Pennsylvania ranking.
See all of the rankings for West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania has an acceptance rate of 78%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
About 14% of students accepted to WCU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 560 and 650. Math scores were between 540 and 620.
WCU received ACT scores from 1% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 24 and 28.
Learn more about West Chester University of Pennsylvania admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at West Chester University of Pennsylvania is 20 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 15 to 1. This may indicate that some of your classes will be larger in size than they would be at other schools. However, upper level classes will probably be smaller.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at West Chester University of Pennsylvania is 72%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 83% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like West Chester University of Pennsylvania enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At WCU the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 71%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
During the most recent academic year, there were 14,164 undergraduates at WCU.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
The typical net cost at WCU is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $17,018 | $17,414 | $20,417 | $24,715 | $27,160 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of WCU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At WCU, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $6,286 a year. That adds up to $25,144 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 4.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania make about $61,258 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future West Chester University of Pennsylvania graduates since it is 24% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at West Chester University of Pennsylvania make the most money.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania is a public institution located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. WCU is located in a safe and convenient suburb. Get more details about the location of West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Get in touch with West Chester University of Pennsylvania are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | University Avenue and High Street, West Chester, PA 19383 |
| Phone: | 6104361000 |
| Website: | www.wcupa.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Chester_University_of_Pennsylvania |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/WCUPA |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/wcuofpa |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 25 majors graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 4,185 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 449 | $59,213 |
| General Psychology | 302 | $29,838 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 253 | $42,512 |
| Nursing | 224 | $68,346 |
| General Sales & Marketing | 200 | $43,954 |
| Finance & Financial Management | 174 | $53,367 |
| Health & Physical Education | 172 | $27,786 |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 157 | $36,755 |
| Social Work | 150 | $42,908 |
7,021 students took at least one online class at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Want to see how other colleges compare to WCU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.
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.
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