Notes

These are items that bear looking into more closely.

• This institution’s six year bachelors graduation rate is 60.6%, so approximately 2/5 of undergrads who enroll do not earn a bachelors degree from here.

Overview of institution

This, and the rest of the page, use info from the most recent year available, generally 2023.

• Institution kind: Doctoral/Professional Universities

• Undergrad program: Professions plus arts & sciences, some graduate coexistence

• Graduate program: Research Doctoral: Single program-Education

• Enrollment profile: High undergraduate (see more details below)

• Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $13,022 . This is 70% the average cost of Harvard.

• Actual price for your family: Go here to see what your family may be asked to pay. It can be MUCH lower than the average price but also higher for some.

• Size and setting: Four-year, large, primarily residential

• In state percentage: 80% of first year students come from North Carolina

• In US percentage: 100% of first year students come from the US

• Graduation rate (within 6 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 60.6% (this is what is usually reported as “graduation rate”)

• Graduation rate (within 4 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 43.4%

• Percent of students seeking a Bachelors who transfer out of this institution: 28.1%

• Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 22.1 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]

• Student to faculty ratio: 14.6 (undergrads to all faculty)

• Degrees offered: Certificate of less than 1 year, Certificate of at least 12 weeks but less than 1 year, Bachelor’s degree, Postbaccalaureate certificate, Master’s degree, Post master’s certificate, Doctor’s degree: research scholarship, Doctor’s degree: professional practice

• Schedule: Semester

• Institution provides on campus housing: Yes

• Dorm capacity: There are enough dorm beds for 4347 students

• Freshmen required to live on campus: No

• Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes

• Disabilities: 5.00 percent of undergrads are registered as having disabilities.

Map

Comparisons

The sections below show this institution compared with others. The ones listed are ones it has identified as peers, who consider themselves peers, and/or who the federal government considers peers. If a comparison school has the same value as the focal school, its cell is grayed out. In fields where there is a common view that higher (or lower) values are better, the best values are in blue, the worst values are in red. If there isn’t a sense of a particular value being better, values are shown in varying shades of green. Arrows show where there is a signficant trend over time for a school. You can swipe across the table to see more of it; the focal school column is always visible.

• Western Carolina University lists these schools as ones to compare itself within federal IPEDS data, and they do the same back: The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Central Connecticut State University, Salisbury University, Murray State University, State University of New York at Oswego, Morehead State University, Radford University
• Western Carolina University compares itself to these institutions, but not vice versa: Kennesaw State University, University of North Florida, University of Central Oklahoma, Winona State University, Sam Houston State University, University of Central Missouri, Western Kentucky University, Pittsburg State University, California State University-Fresno, Southeast Missouri State University, Eastern Illinois University, University of Central Arkansas, Ferris State University, Western Illinois University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Saint Cloud State University, Indiana State University, Plymouth State University
• These institutions compare themselves to Western Carolina University, but not vice versa: University of North Georgia, University of West Florida, Eastern Kentucky University, Cabarrus College of Health Sciences, Georgia College & State University, Samford University, Stockton University, College of Charleston, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Fort Hays State University, Winthrop University, Coastal Carolina University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Southern Utah University, Citadel Military College of South Carolina, Marshall University, University of Southern Indiana, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, The University of Tennessee-Martin, University of North Alabama, Arkansas Tech University, Emporia State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Francis Marion University, Texas A & M University-Kingsville, Virginia State University, University of West Alabama, Auburn University at Montgomery

Enrollment

General

Teaching

Tenure track faculty are those who are eligible for tenure. This includes both pre-tenure and tenured faculty. Once faculty get tenure, they are (generally) protected from being fired for intellectual reasons, helping to ensure their freedom in teaching and research. They can still lose their positions for misconduct, financial problems, not fulfilling their duties, or other reasons.

Non-tenure track faculty are not eligible for tenure. Some are hired one semester at a time, some have multi-year contracts. They typically have a higher teaching load than tenure track faculty, leaving less time for research or other creative endeavors. They are also easier to fire than tenured faculty. Sometimes they are external experts (a noted musician, a former senator) who are hired to teach some classes without the expected permanence of a tenure-track position.

Note that this chart uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.

Having a low student to faculty ratio is considered a good thing by many, as it can mean more individual attention.

Geography

This has information on the location of the institution. See the about page for more information on what the metrics are and how they are calculated.

Financial Aid

Graduation

Note these are bachelors graduation rates in six years, not four (this is standard). Sample sizes can be small for some demographic groups with few individuals in a school, leading to large year-to-year fluctuations and often extreme values for those groups (if there are two individuals in the class with a given identity, the possible graduation rates are 0%, 50%, or 100% depending on whether zero, one, or both students graduate within six years).

Library

Libraries are changing rapidly. Note that how institutions count digital collections may vary.

Diversity

The US Census Bureau has a diversity index that goes from 0 to 1. In their words, “A 0-value indicates that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. A value close to 1 indicates that everyone in the population has different racial and ethnic characteristics.” This uses their formula, but with the resolution available for the federal IPEDS data (which does not separate for a given demographic group whether members identify as Hispanic or not). This metric is about heterogeneity within the population, not the proportion of the population that comes from historically excluded groups.

Following the practice of the census, the index is multiplied by 100 to give the percentage probability a random pair of individuals will have a different background. Most institutions argue that diversity is a benefit, so by default a higher number is listed as better, but there may be cases where this measure does not reflect the mission of a college (for example, 70% of the students at a tribal college or university may be American Indian: that could be low-scoring by this metric but should not be read as “bad” given the institution’s mission).

These numbers are based on the most recent year available, generally 2023, which predates effects of the US Supreme Court’s striking down of affirmative action. This has often changed, sometimes dramatically, the incoming student demographics at some institutions.

Overall diversity

Freshman profile

Demographic data for first time degree-seeking students. Note that this uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.

Freshman geography

Test scores

SAT scores

ACT scores

Majors

This presents information on the number of majors and the median earnings one and five years after graduation for people who got a degree from this institution in that field. The earnings are for those who are working and not enrolled in further education. The earnings data (from the federal college scorecard) also has information on earnings for those categorized as ‘MALE’ and ‘NOMALE’ – for readability, these are recategorized here as “Men” and “Women”, respectively, which adopts the gender binary used in other federal data. “W/M earnings ratio” is the median earnings of women divided by men, as a percentage.

Bachelors

Masters

Doctorate

Certificate

Associates