Despite reporting a third consecutive year of growth in new and first-year student enrollment, WSU still has not recovered to its pre-COVID numbers as enrollment slows. Institutional data from the University hints at an issue that began prior to the pandemic.
WSU’s declining enrollment began before the pandemic shut down schools across the United States. In the last decade, enrollment was on the rise between fall 2016 and fall 2018, before steadily declining between fall 2018 and fall 2022.
Since 2023, enrollment numbers have begun to go back up, but remain lower than even fall 2020 when COVID cases were at their highest. WSU’s lowest enrollment numbers in the last decade were in 2022, with just 3,991 new first-year students system-wide. Comparatively, in fall 2020, amid the peak of a global pandemic, WSU saw 4,191 new first-year students.
At the same time, institutional data from the University of Washington suggests WSU’s enrollment issue is endemic to the WSU System. While UW saw a slight decline in new first-time enrollment during the pandemic, the decrease was minimal and short-lived.
Between fall 2018 and fall 2021, UW’s new student enrollment fell by a mere 198. Over the same period, WSU’s numbers fell by 1,157.
By fall 2021, UW’s numbers were not only back up to pre-pandemic numbers, but even increased slightly. UW’s sharpest dip in enrollment happened in fall 2023, with a reported enrollment of 6,928, down 383 from the previous year, before returning to over 7,000 new students in fall 2024.
Admissions data from WSU helps paint a clearer picture. Between 2018 and 2021, total applications fell by 6,215. Since fall 2021, total applications have begun to rise, reaching peaks exceeding pre-pandemic numbers.
Despite peaks in total applications, WSU’s acceptance rate has increased, meaning more students are being offered space than are accepting. In fall 2018, WSU had an acceptance rate of 78%, and in fall 2025, WSU’s acceptance rate increased to 85%.
President Cantwell said during a Board of Regents meeting Friday that WSU is prioritizing first-year and transfer student enrollment, with retention and graduate rates also being on the Administration’s radar.
