Western Washington University’s total enrollment rises for first time since the pandemic
Bellingham, WA — The number of first-year students who enrolled at Western Washington University for fall 2024 is 3,019, WWU’s sixth-largest incoming class ever.
As the smaller pandemic-era classes graduate out and as larger first-year classes come in, the university can now report an increase in total enrollment continuing from spring 2024. This is due to three consecutive years of large incoming first-year classes. This year’s class follows WWU’s largest-ever and second-largest first-year classes in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Total enrollment
“Spring 2024 was the first time since the pandemic that we saw total enrollment take an upward turn from the previous year. Fall 2024 is confirmation that our enrollment is on an upward trajectory,” said Shelli Soto, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management at WWU.
WWU’s total enrollment as of Census Day, Oct. 7, stands at 14,700 registered students for fall 2024.
Transfers, graduate enrollment and diversity
Stability is the other story in this year’s enrollment: The number of new transfer students is 925 (compared to 927 for 2023), new graduate school enrollment is stable at 806 (compared to 789 for 2023) and the percentage of new first-year students identifying as students of color is similar to last year’s (29.9 percent for fall 2024 compared to 29.8 percent for fall 2023).
Financial aid and Pell expansion for WWU students
Financial aid continues to be a strong point of Western’s enrollment performance. Despite national FAFSA delays, new first-year students at WWU continue to outperform the state and national averages on FAFSA filings. More than 86 percent of this year’s incoming first-year students have completed a FAFSA; about three percentage points more than last year’s 83 percent. FAFSA filing among the entire WWU student body is also up slightly at 63 percent. Nationally, FAFSA completion among high school seniors is at 52.4 percent, down significantly from 58.8 percent the year prior.
Western has also seen a noticeable increase in Pell eligibility among students. As of the second week of October 2023, WWU had disbursed $4.3 million in federal Pell grants to nearly 2,400 students. At the same time for fall 2024, the university has disbursed $6.3 million in Pell grants to nearly 3,200 students.
“Despite the many complexities and challenges that the 2024-25 FAFSA rollout presented, we are happy to see that many WWU students are benefiting from the changes at the federal level,” said Soto.
"We are proud of our enrollment turnaround, but we still have more work to do. Given the fact that less than half of Washington high school graduates enroll in any postsecondary educational institution, we must continue to find ways to increase access to Western and other public universities and colleges in the region,” said WWU President Sabah Randhawa. “As we look to the future, our focus will be on maintaining our enrollment momentum, continuing to build on our retention and advising strengths, and investing in the high-quality academics that empower our students and make Western one of the best universities in the region.”
Comprehensive facts and figures related to WWU’s community, including incoming students, enrollment, graduate outcomes and more are updated regularly at oie.wwu.edu/factbook/.
Media contact
Jonathan Higgins, WWU Communications Director, jonathan.higgins@wwu.edu