College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

Western Governors University Data & Information Overview

430 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
3% Student Loan Default Rate
If you want to know more about Western Governors 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.

How Well Is Western Governors University Ranked?

#146 Best Colleges in Nation
#2 Best Colleges in UT
Information Technology Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 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.

Western Governors University was awarded 430 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is information technology.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

WGU landed the #146 spot in College Factual's 2024 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,217 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when WGU held the #148 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

WGU is also ranked #2 out of 13 schools in Utah.

See all of the rankings for Western Governors University.

Is It Hard to Get Into WGU?

Open Admissions Policy

Acceptance Rate

Returning adults and other non-traditional students may appreciate the fact that Western Governors University has an open admissions policy. This means that you'll only have to submit basic materials, which may include proof that you completed high school or an equivalent program.

Learn more about Western Governors University admissions.

Western Governors University Faculty

42 to 1 Student to Faculty
77% Full Time Teachers

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 Western Governors University, this rate is 42 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 Western Governors University is 77%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  77 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Western Governors University

63% Freshmen Retention
5% 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 Western Governors University is 63%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  63 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full time students who obtain their bachelor's degree in four years or less. This rate is 5% for first-time, full-time students at WGU, which is lower than the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  5 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Western Governors University.

Western Governors University Undergraduate Student Diversity

104,919 Full-Time Undergraduates
28.0% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
62.9% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 104,919 full-time undergraduates at WGU.

How Much Does Western Governors University Cost?

$9,969 Net Price
67% Take Out Loans
$20,288 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of WGU is $9,969. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

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 WGU, 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 WGU, approximately 67% of students took out student loans averaging $5,072 a year. That adds up to $20,288 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at WGU is 3.0%. 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 Western Governors University.

How Much Money Do WGU Graduates Make?

$48,210 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from WGU with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $48,210 in their early years. This is good news for future WGU graduates since it is 13% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

undefined

See which majors at Western Governors University make the most money.

Location of Western Governors University

Utah State
104,919 Full-Time Undergraduates
Suburb Campus Setting
Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, Western Governors University is a private not-for-profit institution. Salt Lake City is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs.

Get more details about the location of Western Governors University.

undefined

Contact details for WGU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 4001 South 700 East Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84107
Phone: 801-274-3280
Website: www.wgu.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wgu.edu
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wgu

Western Governors University Majors

24 Majors With Completions
26,612 Undergraduate Degrees
21,218 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 24 majors graduated from Western Governors University. Of these students, 26,612 received undergraduate degrees and 21,218 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
Nursing 10,730 $74,342
Business Administration & Management 3,061 $58,705
Teacher Education Grade Specific 1,819 $34,615
Information Technology 1,711 NA
Educational Assessment 1,189 NA
Accounting 1,183 $50,280
Health & Medical Administrative Services 1,170 NA
Human Resource Management 926 NA
Special Education 836 $39,431
Management Information Systems 776 NA

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

Online Learning at WGU

100% Take At Least One Class Online
100% 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 2020-2021, 150,116 students took at least one online class at Western Governors University. This is an increase from the 147,866 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 150,116 150,116
2019-2020 147,866 147,866
2018-2019 136,139 136,139
2017-2018 121,437 121,437
2016-2017 98,627 98,627

Learn more about online learning at Western Governors University.

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

Curious on how these schools stack up against WGU? 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.

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs

Compare Your School Options