Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 9.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 101 Title IV programs, 60 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 41 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing60 · 59.4%
- No Data41 · 40.6%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Near the line (±5%)
Programs within five points of the pass line, one cohort year from flipping.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
Programmatic accreditations · 14
Action history · 25
- Nov 2025Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Physical Therapy Association, Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education · Physical Therapy (PT) - Professional programs for the physical therapist
- Oct 2025Grant Substantive Change: ProgramSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Jan 2024Approved for Distance EducationAcademy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics · Dietetics (DIETI) - Dietetic Internship
- Dec 2023Grant Substantive Change: ProgramSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Jun 2023Heightened Monitoring or Focused ReviewSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 4,242 students received $24.4M in Pell grants, alongside $45.7M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 2,729 borrowers who entered repayment, 65 (2.3%) defaulted within three years.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Western Carolina
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 9
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus43
- Non-campus6
- Public property1
Includes 35 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
- Sexual orientation1
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
- Allen2 firesArsonDamage $0-$99
- Allen2 firesArsonDamage $0-$99
- Shining Rock3 firesArsonDamage $0-$99
- Shining Rock3 firesArsonDamage $0-$99
- Shining Rock3 firesArsonDamage $0-$99
- Water Rock1 fireCookingDamage $1,000-$9,999
Data quality: 2 reports were later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Western Carolina vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Western Carolina selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectWestern Carolina University | 60% | — | 11,686 | $12,579 | Doctoral/Professional |
Winston-Salem State University | 47% | 78.3% | 4,782 | $13,393 | Doctoral/Professional |
The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga | 50% | 81.1% | 11,775 | $12,817 | Doctoral/Professional |
Valdosta State University | 42% | 72.3% | 10,262 | $11,298 | Doctoral/Professional |
University of West Georgia | 43% | 51.6% | 14,337 | $15,450 | Doctoral/Professional |
University of Central Arkansas | 53% | 89.5% | 10,112 | $16,775 | Doctoral/Professional |
| Peer group median | 49% | 78.3% | 10,974 | $13,105 |
Frequently asked questions about Western Carolina University
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Western Carolina.
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