WWU Enrollment Shows Record Number of Freshman Students; Overall Fall Enrollment for Students of Color is the Highest Ever

Western Washington University’s fall enrollment figures show that the freshman class is the largest in the history of the university, and overall fall enrollment for students of color is the highest ever at Western.

“We are thrilled to welcome our largest entering class and most diverse overall fall enrollment, and look forward to helping them achieve their goals at Western and beyond.  Advancing students is at the center of what we do here at Western, which means not only providing affordable access to our high quality programs, but ensuring that students have the tools they need to succeed and graduate on time,” said Western President Sabah Randhawa.

Western welcomed 3,114 freshman students fall quarter and 1,181 new undergraduate transfer students. For fall 2016, there were 2,888 freshmen and 1,141 transfer students. This fall, 30.1 percent of new freshmen and 45.6 percent of transfer students are first generation students, or students who are the first from their families to attend college.

Total fall enrollment at Western for fall quarter is 15,915 compared to last year’s total enrollment of 15,574 students. Western maintains stable enrollment to better ensure its academic excellence.

Overall fall enrollment for students of color was 25.6 percent; that is an increase over a 25.3 percent overall fall 2016 enrollment of students of color, which then was a record for Western. For fall 2017, Hispanic or Latinx students account for the greatest increase in the number of enrolled students of color followed by increases in the number of Asian students.

Overall, more than 87 percent of all Western students are resident, in-state, with about 12.1 percent from out of state, including international students. There are students from 37 states and international students from across the globe.

About 70 percent of transfer students come directly from a state community college, led by Whatcom, Everett, Skagit, Bellevue, Olympic and Pierce community colleges.

Leading areas of residence for in-state students are King County, Snohomish County, Pierce County, the Peninsula areas, Southwest Washington and Whatcom County.  The top five states outside of Washington where nonresident students are from are California, Colorado, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.