by our College Data Analytics TeamThe main focus area for this major is Criminal Justice Studies. For more details on this concentration, visit its profile page.
Criminal Justice & Corrections is a major offered under the homeland security, law enforcement and firefighting program of study at Western Carolina University. We’ve pulled together some essential information you should know about the bachelor’s degree program in criminal justice, including how many students graduate each year, the ethnic diversity of these students, whether or not the degree is offered online, and more.
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Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Navigating today's complex criminal justice system takes a great communicator with real–world perspective. The goal of SNHU's Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice is to get you there. You'll learn from professionals across all disciplines who bring their experience to the classroom.
In order to help students and their parents find the best school for them, we have created several different types of college rankings, which are updated yearly. The bachelor's program at WCU was ranked #255 on College Factual's Best Schools for criminal justice list. It is also ranked #4 in North Carolina.
Here are some of the other rankings for WCU.
Out-of-state part-time undergraduates at WCU paid an average of $332 per credit hour in 2019-2020. The average for in-state students was $173 per credit hour. The following table shows the average full-time tuition and fees for undergraduates.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $1,000 | $5,000 |
| Fees | $3,285 | $3,285 |
| Books and Supplies | $616 | $616 |
| On Campus Room and Board | $10,954 | $10,954 |
| On Campus Other Expenses | $3,019 | $3,019 |
Learn more about WCU tuition and fees.
One way to think about how much a school will cost is to look at how much in student loans that you have to take out to get your degree. Criminal Justice students who received their bachelor’s degree at WCU took out an average of $24,500 in student loans. That is 12% lower than the national average of $27,924.
The median early career salary of criminal justice students who receive their bachelor’s degree from WCU is $35,891 per year. That is 11% higher than the national average of $32,399.
Looking for online learning options? Good news, you can take online classes in the criminal justice bachelor’s degree program at WCU. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the WCU Online Learning page.
Women made up around 46.7% of the criminal justice students who took home a bachelor’s degree in 2019-2020. This is less than the nationwide number of 53.3%.
Of those graduates who received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at WCU in 2019-2020, 20.0% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 50%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 1 |
| Black or African American | 12 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 9 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 2 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 |
| White | 119 |
| International Students | 0 |
| Other Races/Ethnicities | 7 |
Criminal Justice & Corrections students may decide to major in one of the following focus areas.
| Focus Area | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Criminal Justice Studies | 150 |
*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.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
