Central Washington University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Central Washington University

Central Washington University operates as a public institution located in Ellensburg, Washington (town: distant), with a total reported enrollment of 7,833 students of which 19,638 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. Central Washington University is categorized as “18” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 90.6%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $18,476, with published in-state tuition of $9,417 and a Pell grant recipient share of 28.3%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $19,500, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 51.6%, and the first-year retention rate is 70.0%. Graduates earn a median of $61,580 ten years after enrolling, compared with $49,398 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 527100.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 70.3% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.