Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 55.77
Liaison Susan Kaspari
Submission Date July 16, 2022

STARS v2.2

Central Washington University
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.43 / 4.00 Leslie Hammes
Director of Student and Financial Services
Student Financial Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Provide at least one of the following figures:

Percentage of need met, on average, for students who were awarded any need-based aid :
60.25

Percentage of students graduating without student loan debt:
44.77

Percentage of entering students that are low-income:
31.76

Graduation/success rate for low-income students:
45.78

Optional Fields

A brief description of notable policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
Unlike student financial aid programs which help students to overcome financial barriers to higher education, TRiO​ Programs have been providing valuable support services to help students from low-income and working families successfully enter college and graduate for over 30 years. Central Washington University (CWU) now hosts FOUR TRIO programs, the Student Support Services Program (SSS) and the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, both located on Central’s main campus in Ellensburg as well as now TWO Educational Opportunity Centers, one in Yakima another that was recently funded in Wenatchee.

The College Success Foundation (CSF) provides academic and financial support to attend college for eligible low-income and/or foster care students.The CSF has been a part of the Central Washington University's (CWU) Academic Achievement Programs since 2001. There are two CSF Programs at CWU, the Passport Navigator Program, and the College Bound Scholarship Program (Achievers). In addition with funding from the state legislation, CWU has received funding to start the Jump Start Program in Fall 2022 – a pre-orientation program targeting under-represented, low-income, first generation students.

A brief description of notable policies or programs to support non-traditional students:
Non-Traditional Student Honor Society
The Alpha Sigma Lambda National Society was established in 1946 to honor superior scholarship and leadership in adult students. It is one of the largest chapter-based honor societies for full and part-time adult students. Alpha Sigma Lambda has chapters at over 250 universities throughout the United States and provides the opportunity to recognize the special achievements of adult students. Alpha Sigma Lambda acknowledges adult students who accomplish academic excellence while facing competing interests of family, work, and community.

Estimated percentage of students that participate in or directly benefit from the institution’s policies and programs to support low-income and non-traditional students:
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Website URL where information about the institution’s accessibility and affordability initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Leslie Hammes, the Director of Financial Aid and Student Services, worked with Institutional Effectiveness to provide the data:
Procedures
• Financial aid was included for both the 2021- 2022 academic year and summer 2021.
• The average percentage of need met for 2021-2022 students was 60.25%.
• All awards were included in the amount of need met. The maximum percentage of need met a student can have is 100%.
• The percentage of students graduating without student load debt for the 2021-2022 school year is 44.77%.
• If a student at any time accepted a loan they were counted as having loan debt.
• The percentage of entering students that are low income is 31.76%.
• Low income was determined by Pell eligibility.
• The graduation rate for first time, degree seeking, low income, undergraduate students for the fall 2016 cohort is 45.78%.

The policy and programs information was provided by John Vasquez, the Associate Dean of Access and Equity in the Division of Student Success.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.