Gorgeous campus in a semi-rural community. Nice large gym, recreation facilities, and indoor rock wall all located in the student union. There's a separate office also set-up for outdoor activities like river-rafting and snow sports. I noticed quality athletic facilities in other parts of the campus too. The new student union itself is impressive with a better-than-average food court (unfortunately, it's largely closed down between terms). Many new, well-designed buildings throughout the campus for instruction. Not many schools have their own airport and teach avionics/piloting. The music department is well-known. The roof-top observatory in an area with a full night sky is a plus. The grounds are well-maintained and the Japanese garden on-campus is a surprisingly nice touch. The university has it's own police department with regular patrols throughout the morning, afternoon, and evening. Student housing is well organized and affordable compared to private housing options in the surrounding area. University apartments offer decent furnishings and all utilities, basic cable, and WiFi are included with rent. Parking is also included for most complexes. Other unique features I noticed include a well established study abroad program with unique groups of international students coming in for exchange, degrees, and ESL study. The rodeo/fairgrounds are also just walking distance from the university and have some fun events. The program that works with chimpanzees who communicate through sign-language is remarkable, although it's a shame they had to move the last of the chimps to a private habitat this month and now largely use videos of them for instruction. I can tell I am going to enjoy the time I spend here. read more

Central Washington University - Science building at CWU, set among beautifully maintained grounds. - Colleges & Universities Near Me - Ellensburg, Washington

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Staff, housing, school is great. I wish I could give cwu 5 stars. But unfortunately I cannot. I went to school here for 2 years. I am extremely into my education but I had to grind everyday just to make ends meet to be able to go here. I lived in Wendell hill hall B. I had to have my car when coming to this school because I worked a well paying job in Yakima Washington. I would switch jobs but I would not be able to pay for school if I did not have this job. Initially I called the school to ask if it would be ok to bring my car but not have a parking pass. They told me it should be fine. I had no idea I would have to leave my car at SAFEWAY every night because even the free lots were not over night Parking. The walk didn't seem awful at first but when it got cold it was unbearable. I finally cracked and had to buy a parking pass. When it was added onto my tuition I did not realize how expensive the pass was and without guarantee for a parking spot every night. I ended up getting parking tickets because I was apparently parking in UNAUTHORIZED parking spaces in my own parking lot!!! This threw me off guard and made me angry to the point I knew I needed to leave. They're greedy and would do anything for more money. read more

Hey I went to school here! I am a big fan! 1) A small college town, CWU, pretty much walking distance to anywhere you need to go. 2) Great housing on Campus: dormitory or apartments. 3) Nice facilities: Gym and a very nice swimming pool 4) Friendly faculty and staff 5) low cost of living (if you don't party and drink) read more

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Can you get lower than a one star? I have had two kids go through this deplorable place (Ed dept) and with the advice and direction of the 'educated' advisors, my sons had two spend three extra semesters here. All about money! I hired a teacher from here who came highly recommended by a department leader (not ed dept); and the teacher did not know how to read. Not kidding! I can't hire well, apparently, but they can't teach well and recommend truthfully either. Don't waste your investment here! read more

Yup, I'm a Central Alum. I enjoyed this place. There are always things that could be better, but I'm going to go ahead and rate this on my overall experience, and how I felt when I graduated and left. And that was pretty darn good. Reasonably small class sizes, small college town. I enjoyed myself, graduated with honors, and will remember CWU and Ellensburg fondly. Thanks, Central! read more

Department of education is a joke. Teachers treat state standards as a checklist, and have no true grasp on how to instruct based on constructivism. That wouldn't be so bad except that they force constructivism down students' throats. Plan on wasting a lot of your time doing irrelevant work; however, if you have a good grasp on education you will be able to compare and contrast bad instruction with your own style and knowledge. Yay? read more

Central Washington University - CWU - Colleges & Universities Near Me - Ellensburg, Washington

Wonderful University!

incredibly unorganized and really don't know what their doing when it comes to helping students complete their program. When you ask a question you are told to go to another department and then when you're at the other dept. they tell you to go back to the dept. you just left. If you ever actually get a straight answer from someone they will not document it and will not remember what was agreed upon the next time you try to schedule your classes. I am very disappointed in the complete lack of professionalism by the CWU staff and would never recommend anyone go the CWU. Just plan bad read more

You know what Central? You're alright in my book. But I will update this review in 2 years when my brother graduates. read more

Central is not bad. Its not great. It's just....Central. Small class sizes, not much to do around campus, quite a few stuck up student around who give you a look like you are lesser than them. I enjoy most of my time here but only because i moved off-campus and work to find other things to do in my free time. You better be serious about your schoolwork too because Central will throw you out as fast as it accepts you. read more

I really miss this place a lot! It's a very laid back and relaxed school. The students here were cheery and friendly and the student activities were fun. You can Kayak/Canoe the Yakima river in the summer and there are good snowmobiling trails nearby in the winter among other things. I also deeply miss the frozen yogurt and the roadhouse grill. BTW don't buy into that one guy, he's literally reviewed several different colleges and gave them 1 star stating how "racist and ignorant" they are. Clearly he didn't even attend this school. Central is probably the least racist college out there. Most students here come from the Seattle area. read more

This review is for University Housing. DON'T live on campus if you can help it, housing is AWFUL. The whole office is incompetent and doesn't care about students. read more

I have finished my college life in Seattle/Bellevue. This is a honest review from my deepest memories and impression of CWU. This school is so cold, specially for international students. The school staffs,No one willingly to help you, they all look bothered when I ask for their help. And for students life here, no one gives a shit about your life, what they like are Tuition and trouble free students, I have two of my best friends, both got depression during their studies in CWU, one of them went home and get cured after two years of recovery, another one trying to survive the situation in CWU, I have mention to school the concern of their wellbeing, but school never asked, international program and just sent him a suspended letter. As for me, I skipped a quarter from this school without going for a single class in the end, they charged me 6000+ dollars for tuition, still haven't pay it off yet, thanks for ruining my life before 30s. If I would choose again, I would never waste my time in this school, If I would choose again, I will pack my things get away from that blood sucking CWU. Most importantly, because of this school I lost two of my best friends in my college journey. Never give any recommendations for anyone about this school. read more

Food options here are extremely limited and quality of food is subpar. If you're looking for vegan options, enjoy the same 3 meals every day of the year. Menu does not change either! read more

I attended an graduated from CWU. I loved it here. Small class sizes, personal professor attention, small town. The best time of my life.... Nuff said. read more

I went here many moons ago. It's a fine school, kind of out in nowhere but that's probably Changed. There were some renovations when I left. So maybe things have changed in town as well. I think it was a better school in 2002 than in 2017, but when I went there was only one Starbucks and I heard there are two now! read more

Not a huge fan of this college. I'm currently an online student and this college lacks with the classes they offer online. Certain classes, like Eng 102, are offered sporadically through the year, but only one online class per quarter, which results in exceptionally long waiting lists. If you get on the waiting list for a class like eng 102, good luck getting off! read more

The food's so cheap here! There' also a gift shop, and a huge eating space!

I have attended a few work conferences on this campus. The parking for guests is not free, but there are ample locations in designated lots around campus. There are a variety of facilities available. The student union is clean and updated and the outer facilities are fairly updated. The biggest down side is there is no universal wi-fi access for guests. This is very frustrating when you're traveling for work. read more

Currently a senior in CWU Pierce campus. Very positive atmosphere and instructors are very knowledgeable and very good at what they do. Highly recommended for anyone who juggles between work and schooling. Few things do need improve is updated equipment on satellite campus site, where IT class should have power plugins built in to table for laptop usage. I have seen people trip over laptop cords last semester because we only have few pluggins on the floor which located in the odd spot where people can trip over wires. Another thing is Financial aide refunds. School hold the funds for 11 days after school starts and generally if you don't have direct deposit, you will wait additional 7 days for mailing the check out to the students. Schools like UW and Other colleges get their FA refunds 1week before school starts so this is very inconvenient for some students because they rely on FA to pay for school supplies and back to school clothing and rent. read more

I had incredibly high hopes for CWU. I knew that this college was the low-hanging fruit of Washington State's universities. Central had a reputation of being the university that would take anyone. That said, I still looked forward to joining the campus in 2012 as a transfer student from a nearby community college. As a member of the graduating class of 2015, I look back on my experiences and wonder if I might not have been better served elsewhere. Before I get to the criticism, I state that yes, the classes are relatively small in most subjects. Yes, several of the instructors are quite knowledgeable in their fields, and most are generally quite helpful. For the price, much of what I got at CWU was a bargain. That said, my experiences at Central have left much to be desired. Let's begin with the Financial Aid department. A friend of mine recently lamented that it has "basically gotten to the point that you have to PLAN for financial aid to screw up and try to find a way to work around them." I can certainly feel his pain, as I've tangled with the aidbots in the department on a number of occasions. I can honestly say that one major factor in choosing a different school for my graduate studies is that I wouldn't have to deal with their pants-on-head incompetence. I've often stated that CWU could improve their FinAid department by replacing the entire team with me. As I do not possess a degree in accounting, they could hire me for less, and I could screw things up even faster, thereby streamlining their processes to accelerate the flow of incoming complaints and making the department more efficient. This reminds me of the ways that the university's funding is waste- err... spent. When I began attending CWU in 2012, I marveled at the beauty of the campus. Granted, I was coming from one of the community colleges on the east side of the mountains, so I didn't have much for comparison. Still, it was pleasing. The campus lawns were green and lush, and they had a Japanese garden in the middle of campus that for a long time was my favorite place. And while some of the buildings were older, there were several newer facilities on campus to help balance out the deterioration. A bit of funding thrown at the repair of the older buildings would have gone a long way toward restoring the dignity of this once-proud school. I say "would have" because wise financial management does not happen here. Among the most recent additions to the campus is a new science building to supplement or replace the current science building, which happens to be among the newer and nicer facilities on campus. Now, I'm all for the STEM disciplines. I find them an important and necessary ward against the cancer of ignorance that infests large portions of our population today. Unfortunately, this new facility seems to be coming at the cost of several other programs and instructors elsewhere within the university while bringing next to no new benefits. I don't believe the administration is even planning to expand the degree offerings with the new facilities, to say nothing of whether they'll ever offer a doctorate. Also, it's a damned eyesore. Old buildings are left to rot. The garden is now pointless. Next, there is the wildcat statue that has been freshly dumpe- ...erected on the parking lot side of the Student Union building. Whether this piece of... art... cost the university $74,000 or $81,000 is unclear, but apparently it was authorized by a student-led initiative in the same year that I began attending. Funny, I never saw the vote on that, and few people graduating this year remember it either. Supposedly, this statue was planned to boost student morale. This, while several departments and majors at CWU are being merged or are under threat of being removed under the sheer incompetence of the university president and his board of yes-men. Several great instructors are leaving or have left and are not being replaced. The student tutoring center was considered unworthy of funding by the university board, and the tutors had to beg the student body to approve additional quarterly fees to be added to student tuition in order to remain operational. Oh yes, and let's not forget that student tuition will be hiked for the coming year to cover costs, but the university somehow still found a half million to throw at the president - on top of his generous salary and various perks - as a retention bonus so he wouldn't find better schools to destroy. But I digress. The statue was intended to boost student morale. Know what else might boost morale? Not wasting money and having to jack tuition. I've much more to say, but I have to cut short. If you have other options, take them if you can. read more

It is what you make it. I find it's an easy school to get into but challenging to complete. The people that don't like it here are the ones that don't rise up to the challenge. read more

I am an Alumni. Absolutely loved my time at Central. When I graduated High School, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, except I knew I wanted a College Education. I picked CWU because of the Music Department. I started out as a Music Major, and although the Music Dept. is pretty well known and respected I am not sure folks around the State realize just how exceptional it is - probably partly due to the School being in a small town in a very rural area without a lot of exposure with the big media outlets. Beyond that the classes were small (compared to the big research Universities, like UW), the Professors were for the most part very good and I could easily get an appointment with them when I needed help. Housing was good and easy to get and the food is not horrible. All this really help me find my way to figure out what I wanted out of a College education and be successful. To this day most of my closest friends I met at CWU. Although I ended up living in Seattle, I really grew to love Ellensburg. It's a nice town with enough to do to keep me interested, and other than the wind in the Spring the weather is pretty good most of the time (certainly a lot sunnier than in the Westside of the Cascades!). If you want a good undergraduate program, I would recommend Central Washington University every time. GO CATS! read more