The student population at Central Washington University is 10,811 (10,317 undergraduate and 494 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 1,182 over the past decade.
The percentage of undergraduate students at CWU is 95.43% which is decreased by 795 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 387 and it has been decreasing.
The female to male ratio is 1.25 to 1 which means that female students enrolled slightly more than male students.
2,377 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 45.12% since 2015.
The average student population over the last 11 years is 11,108 where 10,811 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.
95.43% of total students is undergraduate students and 4.57% students is graduate students. The number of undergraduate students has decreased by 795 and the graduate enrollment has decreased by 387 over past 10 years.
The female to male ratio is 1.25 to 1 and it means that there are slightly more female students enrolled in CWU than male students.
The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Central Washington University since 2015.
| Year | Total | Undergraduate | Graduate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | ||
| 2015-16 | 11,993 | 11,112 | 5,421 | 5,691 | 881 | 365 | 516 |
| 2016-17 | 11,971 -22 | 11,119 7 | 5,419 -2 | 5,700 9 | 852 -29 | 327 -38 | 525 9 |
| 2017-18 | 12,901 930 | 12,080 961 | 5,739 320 | 6,341 641 | 821 -31 | 327 | 494 -31 |
| 2018-19 | 12,342 -559 | 11,419 -661 | 5,482 -257 | 5,937 -404 | 923 102 | 346 19 | 577 83 |
| 2019-20 | 11,658 -684 | 11,111 -308 | 5,286 -196 | 5,825 -112 | 547 -376 | 203 -143 | 344 -233 |
| 2020-21 | 11,174 -484 | 10,518 -593 | 4,873 -413 | 5,645 -180 | 656 109 | 265 62 | 391 47 |
| 2021-22 | 10,176 -998 | 9,566 -952 | 4,496 -377 | 5,070 -575 | 610 -46 | 228 -37 | 382 -9 |
| 2022-23 | 9,257 -919 | 8,743 -823 | 4,131 -365 | 4,612 -458 | 514 -96 | 204 -24 | 310 -72 |
| 2023-24 | 8,796 -461 | 8,309 -434 | 3,863 -268 | 4,446 -166 | 487 -27 | 193 -11 | 294 -16 |
| 2024-25 | 10,811 2,015 | 10,317 2,008 | 4,620 757 | 5,697 1,251 | 494 7 | 175 -18 | 319 25 |
| Average | 11,108 | 10,429 | 4,933 | 5,496 | 679 | 263 | 415 |
The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 10,429 where 10,317 students are attending the Undergraduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Central Washington University since 2015.
| Year | Total | Full-time | Part-time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | ||
| 2015-16 | 11,112 | 9,103 | 4,479 | 4,624 | 2,009 | 942 | 1,067 |
| 2016-17 | 11,119 | 9,482 | 4,650 | 4,832 | 1,637 | 769 | 868 |
| 2017-18 | 12,080 | 10,446 | 4,997 | 5,449 | 1,634 | 742 | 892 |
| 2018-19 | 11,419 | 10,040 | 4,866 | 5,174 | 1,379 | 616 | 763 |
| 2019-20 | 11,111 | 9,977 | 4,774 | 5,203 | 1,134 | 512 | 622 |
| 2020-21 | 10,518 | 9,235 | 4,253 | 4,982 | 1,283 | 620 | 663 |
| 2021-22 | 9,566 | 8,373 | 3,937 | 4,436 | 1,193 | 559 | 634 |
| 2022-23 | 8,743 | 7,619 | 3,625 | 3,994 | 1,124 | 506 | 618 |
| 2023-24 | 8,309 | 7,074 | 3,313 | 3,761 | 1,235 | 550 | 685 |
| 2024-25 | 10,317 | 6,950 | 3,214 | 3,736 | 3,367 | 1,406 | 1,961 |
| Average | 10,429 | 10,429 | 4,211 | 4,619 | 10,429 | 722 | 877 |
The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 679 where 494 students are attending the Graduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Central Washington University since 2015.
| Year | Total | Full-time | Part-time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | ||
| 2015-16 | 881 | 503 | 232 | 271 | 378 | 133 | 245 |
| 2016-17 | 852 | 509 | 214 | 295 | 343 | 113 | 230 |
| 2017-18 | 821 | 466 | 199 | 267 | 355 | 128 | 227 |
| 2018-19 | 923 | 528 | 214 | 314 | 395 | 132 | 263 |
| 2019-20 | 547 | 121 | 43 | 78 | 426 | 160 | 266 |
| 2020-21 | 656 | 225 | 93 | 132 | 431 | 172 | 259 |
| 2021-22 | 610 | 238 | 87 | 151 | 372 | 141 | 231 |
| 2022-23 | 514 | 184 | 77 | 107 | 330 | 127 | 203 |
| 2023-24 | 487 | 311 | 122 | 189 | 176 | 71 | 105 |
| 2024-25 | 494 | 343 | 116 | 227 | 151 | 59 | 92 |
| Average | 679 | 679 | 140 | 203 | 679 | 124 | 212 |
The percentage of white students is 55.72%. The percentage was 59.22% 10 years ago and CWU still has a high percentage of white students. 4.38% of enrolled students is Asian and 3.88% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 23.04% of the student body.
Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 59.22% to 55.72%. Asian enrollment declined from 4.54% to 4.38%. Black student enrollment increased from 3.41% to 3.88%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 12.91% to 23.04%.
The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.6262 which indicates that moderately diverse. This increased from 0.6256 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.
The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Central Washington University over the past 11 years (2015-2025).
| Year | American Indian or Native American | Asian | Black | Hispanic | Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | White | Two or More Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 92 | 544 | 409 | 1,548 | 73 | 7,102 | 732 |
| 2016-17 | 76 | 463 | 438 | 1,695 | 79 | 6,778 | 759 |
| 2017-18 | 76 | 504 | 490 | 2,005 | 94 | 6,938 | 935 |
| 2018-19 | 67 | 462 | 459 | 1,952 | 106 | 6,289 | 905 |
| 2019-20 | 63 | 512 | 459 | 1,978 | 109 | 5,934 | 920 |
| 2020-21 | 73 | 526 | 473 | 1,956 | 108 | 5,698 | 955 |
| 2021-22 | 68 | 480 | 466 | 1,808 | 102 | 5,250 | 916 |
| 2022-23 | 58 | 402 | 451 | 1,774 | 80 | 4,913 | 757 |
| 2023-24 | 50 | 340 | 425 | 1,820 | 71 | 4,742 | 675 |
| 2024-25 | 65 | 473 | 420 | 2,491 | 81 | 6,024 | 883 |
| Average | 69 | 471 | 449 | 1,903 | 90 | 5,967 | 844 |
2,377 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 22% of total students. The number of online students has increased 45.12% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Central Washington University from 2015 to 2025.
| Year | Total Enrollment | Online Completely | Enrolled in Some Online Courses | Not Enrolled in Online Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 11,993 | 1,638 | 2,178 | 8,177 |
| 2016-17 | 11,971 | 1,743 | 2,307 | 7,921 |
| 2017-18 | 12,901 | 1,855 | 2,915 | 8,131 |
| 2018-19 | 12,342 | 3,180 | 7,872 | 1,290 |
| 2019-20 | 11,658 | 2,971 | 7,747 | 940 |
| 2020-21 | 11,174 | 7,145 | 3,688 | 341 |
| 2021-22 | 10,176 | 2,921 | 4,411 | 2,844 |
| 2022-23 | 9,257 | 2,498 | 3,896 | 2,863 |
| 2023-24 | 8,796 | 2,108 | 3,728 | 2,960 |
| 2024-25 | 10,811 | 2,377 | 3,856 | 4,578 |
| Average | 11,108 | 2,844 | 4,260 | 4,005 |
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