by our College Data Analytics TeamExplore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, Western is ranked #1,584 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This is an improvement over the previous year, when Western held the #1,596 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
Out of the 33 colleges in Colorado, Western is ranked at #29.
Because it has a high acceptance rate of 91%, some consider Western to be a safety school. But don't just assume that admittance is in the bag. Make sure to spend enough time on your application so that it is in tip-top shape.
About 37% of students accepted to Western submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 530 and 630. Math scores were between 510 and 600.
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 Western Colorado University, this ratio is 18 to 1, which is on par with the national average of 15 to 1. That's not bad at all.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Western Colorado University is 78%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 74% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Western Colorado University 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.
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor's degree with four years. At Western this rate is 28%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Western Colorado University.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,749 undergraduates at Western with 1,616 being full-time and 1,133 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $13,146 | $13,136 | $16,216 | $18,169 | $21,481 |
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 Western, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Western, approximately 59% of students took out student loans averaging $5,812 a year. That adds up to $23,248 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Western is 5.8%. 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 Colorado University.
See which majors at Western Colorado University make the most money.
Get more details about the location of Western Colorado University.
Contact details for Western are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1 Western Way, Gunnison, CO 81231 |
| Phone: | 970-943-2119 |
| Website: | www.western.edu/ |
| Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/WesternStateColoradoUniversity |
| Twitter: | https://twitter.com/westerncolou |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Business Administration & Management | 63 | $40,324 |
| General Biology | 41 | $26,963 |
| Natural Resources Conservation | 33 | $32,439 |
| Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies | 31 | $22,704 |
| General Psychology | 28 | $23,793 |
| Health & Physical Education | 26 | $30,326 |
| Sociology | 22 | $30,165 |
| Political Science & Government | 16 | NA |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 15 | NA |
| Communication & Media Studies | 15 | $28,244 |
Online courses area 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.
In 2020-2021, 1,244 students took at least one online class at Western Colorado University. This is a decrease from the 1,517 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-2021 | 1,244 | 774 |
| 2019-2020 | 1,517 | 477 |
| 2018-2019 | 755 | 432 |
| 2017-2018 | 418 | 143 |
| 2016-2017 | 417 | 154 |
Learn more about online learning at Western Colorado University.
If you’re considering Western Colorado University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
Curious on how these schools stack up against 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!
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.