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Western Washington University Data & Information Overview

95 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
93% Acceptance Rate
Get the facts about Western Washington University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

How Well Is Western Washington University Ranked?

#287 Best Colleges in Nation
#5 Best Colleges in WA
Physical Education Teaching & Coaching Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2025 Rankings

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.

Western Washington University was awarded 95 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is physical education teaching & coaching.

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Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2025 analysis, WWU is ranked #287 out of 2,152 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.

WWU is also ranked #5 out of 50 schools in Washington.

See all of the rankings for Western Washington University.

Is It Hard to Get Into WWU?

93% Acceptance Rate
61% Of Accepted Are Women
12% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Western Washington University has an acceptance rate of 93%, so it is easier to gain admission to this school than some others. Still, the admissions staff will examine your application closely to make sure you're a good fit for WWU.

Average Test Scores

About 12% of students accepted to WWU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 590 and 690. Math scores were between 540 and 650.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Western Washington University  ( 590 to 690 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Western Washington University  ( 540 to 650 )
200
800
WWU received ACT scores from 2% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 25 and 30.

ACT Composite Scores for Western Washington University  ( 25 to 30 )
1
36

Learn more about Western Washington University admissions.

Western Washington University Faculty

17 to 1 Student to Faculty
69% 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 Western Washington University, this ratio is 17 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

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 Western Washington University is 69%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  69 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Western Washington University

77% Freshmen Retention
38% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Western Washington University has a freshmen retention rate of 77%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  77 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 WWU this rate is 38%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  38 out of 100
0
100

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

Western Washington University Undergraduate Student Diversity

12,622 Full-Time Undergraduates
29.0% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
58.7% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 14,194 undergraduates at WWU with 12,622 being full-time and 1,572 being part-time.

How Much Does Western Washington University Cost?

$18,373 Net Price
36% Take Out Loans
$27,744 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of WWU is $18,373. 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 WWU

$0-30 K$30K-48K$48-75$75-110K$110K +
$11,513$12,999$15,867$21,551$24,472

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 WWU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

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 WWU, approximately 36% of students took out student loans averaging $6,936 a year. That adds up to $27,744 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for Western Washington University.

How Much Money Do WWU Graduates Make?

$62,569 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from WWU with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $62,569 in their early years. That's great news for WWU students since it is 27% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

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

Location of Western Washington University

Washington State
12,622 Full-Time Undergraduates
Small City Campus Setting
Western Washington University is a public institution located in Bellingham, Washington. The city atmosphere of Bellingham makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of Western Washington University.

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Contact details for WWU are given below.

Contact Details
Address:516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225-9008
Phone:360-650-3000
Website:wwu.edu/
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/westernwashingtonuniversity
Twitter:https://twitter.com/WWU

Western Washington University Majors

105 Majors With Completions
8,434 Undergraduate Degrees
8,434 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 105 majors graduated from Western Washington University. Of these students, 8,434 received undergraduate degrees and 8,434 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
Nursing394$80,808
General Psychology220$32,306
Natural Resources Conservation219$30,899
Business Administration & Management172$53,402
Computer Information Systems165$68,219
Teacher Education Grade Specific146$53,133
Writing Studies143$27,116
Sociology117$33,039
Marketing116$43,375
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies104$23,213

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

Online Learning at WWU

19% Take At Least One Class Online
2% Take All Classes Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2022-2023, 2,730 students took at least one online class at Western Washington University. This is an increase from the 1,052 students who took online classes the previous year.

YearTook at Least One Online ClassTook All Classes Online
2022-20232,730367
2021-20221,052225
2020-2021903142
2018-2019913185

Learn more about online learning at Western Washington University.

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

Curious on how these schools stack up against WWU? 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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