Western Technical College
About
Western Technical College is a public technical college in La Crosse, Wisconsin. A member of the Wisconsin Technical College System, the Western Technical College District serves 11 counties and enrolls over 5,000 students. The college has six campus locations in western Wisconsin and its main campus is in downtown La Crosse. Western is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell recipients graduate at a higher rate than non-Pell students here — unusual and worth investigating.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 18 Title IV programs, 5 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 12 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing5 · 27.8%
- No Data12 · 66.7%
- Failing1 · 5.6%
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.
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.
Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
Programmatic accreditations · 2
Action history · 3
- Oct 2024Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Physical Therapy Association, Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education · Physical Therapy (PTA) - Programs for the physical therapist assistant
- Oct 2022Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
- Aug 2017Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 1,482 students received $9.6M in Pell grants, alongside $9.1M 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 812 borrowers who entered repayment, 47 (5.7%) defaulted within three years — above the 2.3% national rate.
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 Technical College
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
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
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Western Technical College vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Western Technical College 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 Technical College | 72% | — | 1,206 | — | Baccalaureate |
Beal University | — | — | 504 | $33,857 | Community College |
Davis College | — | — | 273 | $22,263 | Community College |
Eastwick College-Hackensack | — | 41.2% | 1,171 | $35,162 | Community College |
Laurus College | 50% | — | 1,116 | $15,693 | Baccalaureate |
Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga | — | — | 4,462 | $25,266 | Community College |
West Virginia Junior College-Morgantown | — | — | 673 | $15,987 | Community College |
Western Technical College | 70% | — | 611 | $29,771 | Baccalaureate |
| Peer group median | 70% | 41.2% | 895 | $25,266 |
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Frequently asked questions about Western Technical College
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Western Technical College.
What is the graduation rate at Western Technical College?
How many students attend Western Technical College?
Where is Western Technical College located?
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