Central Washington University Business Programs

Central Washington University is a public institution located in Ellensburg, Washington. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Ellensburg draws many to the area.

Central Washington University Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at CWU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#12	Most Popular Online Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#52	Most Popular Online Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#80	Most Popular Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#116	Most Popular Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#191	Best Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards CWU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#12	Best Interior Design Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	College Factual
#35	Best Organizational Leadership Schools	College Factual
#136	Best General Business Administration and Management Schools	College Factual
#138	Best Accounting Schools	College Factual
#142	Best Accounting Schools	College Factual
#147	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual

Where Is Central Washington University?

Contact details for CWU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926
Phone:	509-963-1111
Website:	www.cwu.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/cwu.wildcats
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/CentralWashU

How Do I Get Into CWU?

You can apply to CWU online at: www.cwu.edu/programs/online-learning

Admission Requirements for CWU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	recommended
College Prep Program	considered but not required
Recommendations	recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	neither required nor recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into CWU?

With an acceptance rate of 86%, CWU is fairly easy to get into, but you must be sure to submit the required materials.

Approximately 40% of accepted students are men and 60% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 85%, and the acceptance rate for women is 87%.

Average Test Scores

About 69% of students accepted to CWU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 580. Math scores were between 460 and 570.

CWU received ACT scores from 15% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 15 and 23. Math scores were between 16 and 24. Composite scores were between 17 and 24.

Can I Afford Central Washington University?

The overall average net price of CWU is $31,774. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

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 CWU, approximately 58% of students took out student loans averaging $6,315 a year. That adds up to $25,260 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at CWU is 5.2%. 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.

Central Washington University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 10,518 undergraduate students at CWU, with 9,235 being full-time and 1,283 being part-time.

There are also 656 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 9,235 full-time undergraduates at CWU, 46% are male and 54% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Central Washington University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	413
Black or African American	393
Hispanic or Latino	1,667
White	4,816
International Students	255
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,691

Geographic Diversity

Washington students aren't the only ones who study at Central Washington University. At this time, 20 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 56 countries are represented at CWU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.

Online Learning at Central Washington University

In 2019-2020, 10,833 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at CWU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the most popular in Washington for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of CWU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Central Washington University was $8,444 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $24,520. The following table shows how CWU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Business & Office Technology	#1	#1
General Sales & Marketing	#1	#3
Retailing and Retail Operations	#1	#1
Business Support & Assistant Services	#7	#7
Interior Design Management	#22	#52

Online Affordability Rankings of CWU Rankings

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Central Washington University was $8,444 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $24,520. The following table shows how CWU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Office Administration	#1	#4
Business & Office Technology	#1	#1
Insurance	#4	#7
Business Support & Assistant Services	#4	#4
Insurance	#4	#7
Interior Design Management	#6	#40
Retailing and Retail Operations	#7	#10
General Sales & Marketing	#8	#17
Business Administration & Management	#67	#193

Online Growth Rankings of CWU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Central Washington University was 52.9%. This is the #511 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at CWU regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at CWU ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at CWU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Retailing and Retail Operations	#3
Insurance	#7
Insurance	#7
Business & Office Technology	#21
General Sales & Marketing	#28
Interior Design Management	#47
Office Administration	#51
Business Support & Assistant Services	#109
General Business Administration and Management	#368
Business Administration & Management	#469

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Central Washington University Business Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Accounting	139	0	0	139
General Business Administration and Management	123	0	0	123
Interior Design Management	78	0	20	98
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	76	0	0	76
Finance	64	0	0	64
Organizational Leadership	63	0	0	63
Supply Chain Management	51	0	0	51
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	22	13	0	35
Construction Management	32	0	0	32
Public Relations	23	0	0	23
Business Economics	12	0	0	12
Tourism and Travel Services Management	12	0	0	12
Actuarial Science	11	0	0	11
General Economics	9	0	0	9
Other Economics	9	0	0	9
Financial Planning & Services	4	0	0	4
Retailing and Retail Operations	4	0	0	4
Meeting and Event Planning	3	0	0	3
Special Products Marketing Operations	2	0	0	2
General Hospitality Administration/Management	1	0	0	1
Insurance	1	0	0	1
Office Administration	0	0	0	0
Business & Office Technology	0	0	0	0
Restaurant/Food Services Management	0	0	0	0
General Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0
Fashion Merchandising	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	739	13	20	772

References

*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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Bobak Ha’Eri under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.