We are going to walk through the full picture: what kind of institution this is, how many students it has and who they are, how its academic year works, how difficult it is to get in, what it truly costs, how students pay for it, what is available on campus, and what happened to the cohorts that have already attended. By the end, you will understand this piece of the puzzle well enough to bring it into the conversation with your child and your family budget.
Who Washington & Jefferson College Is
Washington & Jefferson College is in the city of Washington, Pennsylvania, within the county of the same name, and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. That does not mean the campus is in the bustle of a large city: the census code places it in a suburb, within the urbanized area but outside the principal city. If your child were considering living at home and commuting every day, I recommend something simple: make that trip on a weekday, at the exact time your child would have class. The travel time shown on a map is almost never the actual travel time.
It is a private, nonprofit institution offering programs of four years or more. The federal system records a master's degree as the highest level it reports offering and classifies it as a degree-granting institution, primarily awarding bachelor's degrees or higher. That is an institutional designation, not a catalog: it does not tell you whether the specific major your child is interested in is available there or whether it connects to a graduate program. That must be asked program by program.
Carnegie—the system that organizes the nation's colleges by what they do—classifies it as a four-year, small, highly residential bachelor's college focused on arts and sciences: at least half of its undergraduate students lived in institution-owned or institution-affiliated housing, and at least 80 out of every 100 attended full time. Living on campus is not the same as paying tuition; room and board are almost never bundled together in the brochure. Ask for them separately, including the meal plan, before comparing this school with any other.
One point worth clarifying right away: Washington & Jefferson College is not recorded as a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. Those are three distinct designations with different histories, and among the 3,012 colleges in this federal directory, 138 have at least one of the three. The fact that this school has none of them does not tell you which students it serves or how your child will feel there. Ask directly which cultural centers and student organizations exist today, and speak with someone who already attends.
A Small Community, and Who Makes It Up
In fall 2023, Washington & Jefferson College had 1,162 enrolled students: a midsize enrollment within the range from 1,000 to 4,999, and one of the most common sizes among the 941 selective private four-year schools in this census. It is neither among the largest nor among the smallest within its own group. All of those students are undergraduates; the official count for that fall records no graduate enrollment, which describes that point in time, not the complete list of what the school may offer.
Out of every 100 undergraduate students, 6 are Hispanic or Latino. It is a small minority, and compared with similar schools, the share falls below the midpoint of the group. That neither removes the school from your list nor puts it on the list: it only describes who is enrolled today. If your child will be one of the few, ask which student groups and support services are available, and try to speak with a Latino student who already attends before deciding. The number is for the school as a whole; your child's specific major may look different.
In terms of age, there are almost no older students: just 1 out of every 100 is between 25 and 64 years old. The undergraduate population is nearly evenly divided between men and women, with women accounting for 46 out of every 100. As for where they come from, 73 out of every 100 first-time students reported a permanent address in Pennsylvania when applying. In short, it is a small, predominantly full-time community with relatively few out-of-state students and few Latino students.
How the Academic Year Is Structured
Washington & Jefferson College operates on a 4-1-4 calendar: four courses over four months, one month with a single course, and another four courses over the following four months. In its report, the school also indicated that it accepts credit for AP exams, but it did not check the box for credit for life experience. Accepting AP does not mean it awards credit for every exam: we do not know what scores it requires, how many credits it awards, or whether those credits count toward your child's major. Ask for the equivalency evaluation in writing before enrolling, and do not budget for those savings until you have it in hand. The institution also stated that it enrolls high school students in college courses for credit through a formal dual-enrollment program.
In the most recently reported year, the school awarded 219 bachelor's degrees across 18 fields of study. The field awarding the most degrees was business and management, with 24 out of every 100 degrees—no other field exceeded it, but it did not account for the majority either. The offerings are broad and distributed, rather than dominated by a single major. Still, 18 fields with at least one row in the report do not mean 18 guaranteed majors or 18 fields that actually awarded degrees—some rows may report zero. Verify the exact program your child is interested in.
Regarding the relationship between students and instructional staff, the official ratio is 10 full-time-equivalent students for each full-time-equivalent instructional staff member, a low ratio compared with similar schools. But be careful: this aggregate ratio does not tell you the actual size of a first-year class. It is an institutional number, not a promise of personal attention.
The institution also reports structured academic opportunities: study abroad, preparation for teacher certification below the postsecondary level, the ability to complete preparation there in certain teacher-specialization areas, and state approval of its program for initial teacher certification.
Getting In: What It Requires and What Actually Happens
This is where it helps to go slowly, because two different stories are often confused: the admissions policy the school reports and what actually happened to applicants during a particular cycle.
The policy. Washington & Jefferson College does not have open admissions. Of the nine possible considerations reviewed in the federal report—not counting standardized tests or legacy status—it marked three as required: the high school record, high school GPA, and an English proficiency exam for applicants to whom it applies. If your child studied outside the United States or attended high school in Spanish, ask now whether that exam is required and what would qualify for an exemption; this is the kind of issue people discover late. Other components are not required, but they are considered if submitted: the college-preparatory course plan, personal essay, letters of recommendation, and work experience. The report does not say how much weight each component carries in the final decision. The application fee, incidentally, is $0.
Regarding the SAT and ACT, Washington & Jefferson College reported that it does not consider them in the admissions decision, even if they are submitted. That does not say whether the school uses them for scholarships or placement; ask about those separately.
What happened in the 2023 cycle. Of the 3,218 first-time applicants, 2,624 were offered admission. That is 82 out of every 100—seven or eight out of ten. Compared with the other 942 selective private schools, that figure is slightly above the group's midpoint: it is an accessible college, not a rejection factory. But that is from a single cycle, not a fixed rule for the institution. When it is your child's turn, check the figure again for the applicable year.
Here is the figure most worth pausing over: out of every 100 admitted students, only 12 ultimately enrolled. Put another way, out of every 8 young people who receive an acceptance from this school, about one ends up attending. Compared with similar schools, this proportion is on the low side—at seven out of every ten similar schools, a larger share of admitted students enrolls. Do not read this as a blemish: the fact that most admitted students did not enroll does not mean the school is bad, and the federal record does not explain why each person made that choice. What this does tell you is something practical: receiving an acceptance letter is not the same as deciding to attend, and what others decided does not tell you what the school will offer you. Wait for your letter showing the net price—that is what the year will actually cost—and use that number to decide whether this school stays on your list.
About transfers. Of the bachelor's-degree-seeking cohort that entered in 2017, 22 out of every 100 transferred without completing there and enrolled at another institution. Compared with similar schools, that percentage is within the common range. Separately—with no connection to that outgoing-transfer figure—42 undergraduate students arrived in fall 2023 and enrolled there for the first time after having studied at another institution. Changing schools is not failing. It is still useful for your child to know in advance how to request the paperwork needed to leave, just in case, and to confirm in writing which credits would be recognized if your child decided to transfer elsewhere.
What It Costs and What Is Actually Paid
At Washington & Jefferson College, among 39 first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $21,102. Among 38 students from the same population with EFC family income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $22,139; among 116 students with EFC family income above $110,000, it was $28,860. For dependent students, the range combines their parents' income with their own.
The difference between the average for the lowest-income range, which included 39 students, and the average for the highest-income range, which included 116 students, is $7,758. Among first-year students who received any grant or scholarship aid, the average was $26,051.
Even after grants and scholarships were deducted, the average net price for families in the lowest-income range was $21,102 in the 2022-23 academic year. If that figure does not fit your budget, it is better to see that today than in August.
An average does not show how different the cases within that range were; these data do not support claiming that some families were far below or above the published figure. The income ranges in this profile describe first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, the in-state or in-district rate is used. The overall average with grant or scholarship aid, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional grants or scholarships.
How Students Are Paying: Grants, Pell, and Loans
Out of every 100 degree-seeking students, 100 received some form of grant or scholarship aid—practically everyone. Among recipients, the average was $36,601 per year. That is real money, but it is not a price: the average includes people who received much more and people who received much less. None of this is your offer until you see it in your own letter.
Pell Grants—federal aid for low-income families with demonstrated need—went to 30 out of every 100 students.
And here is the most consequential figure in this section: 77 out of every 100 undergraduate students received a federal student loan in the 2022-23 school year. That is a majority, and compared with similar schools, Washington & Jefferson College is among those with the largest shares of students borrowing—at least nine out of every ten similar schools had an equal or lower proportion. Among those who borrowed, the average amount per borrower that year was $5,963. If your child borrowed a similar amount in each of the four years, the total would be around $23,852, not including interest—and that calculation should be made before the first signature, not at the end.
Here, financing an education with debt is common, not the exception. The fact that it is common does not determine whether your child will need it: that depends on your child's own aid letter and the difference between the net price and what your family can pay. If debt appears in that letter, ask for the estimated monthly payment before accepting it. And an important clarification: the average of $5,963 is for one year and includes only federal loans in the student's name. It does not include Parent PLUS loans that parents sometimes sign for, debt from private banks, or credit cards. Nor is it the total debt someone has upon graduation—that would require adding all four years, and that figure is not in this report.
The institution also offers an installment tuition payment plan and participates in a Promise program.
Campus Life: Housing, Sports, the Library, and Support
Washington & Jefferson College has its own housing, with a reported maximum capacity of 1,398 students. It does not require all first-time students to live there—but that answer rules out a universal requirement; it does not say that no program has one. It also offers meal plans, with a fixed number of meals per week in its largest plan. The existence of housing does not guarantee that a bed will be available; ask in writing for the year's rate, the housing application deadline, and whether a place is guaranteed or your child would be placed on a waiting list.
If your child is interested in ROTC, the school marked two branches as available: Army and Air Force, but not Navy. Its inclusion in the report does not mean the program is taught on that campus—ask about it by name before building your child's plan around it.
In sports, Washington & Jefferson College competes at the intercollegiate level and is affiliated with the NCAA, with membership reported for football, basketball, baseball, and cross-country or track and field. The membership belongs to the school, not your child: write directly to the coach of the sport your child is interested in, ask whether there is space on the team, which division it competes in, and whether that sport awards scholarships.
The school does not offer distance education—not even one course, at either the undergraduate or graduate level—and 0 out of every 100 students took all of their classes online in the latest count. If your child works or cares for someone at home, the schedule would need to fit entirely in person. This figure is from a single year; ask whether it still applies when it is your child's turn.
The library operates with hired staff, and its spending exceeded the $100,000 threshold recorded by the federal government. It has physical and digital materials and participates in interlibrary lending. Exceeding that threshold does not guarantee that it has databases specific to your child's major—ask about those by the name of the major.
Finally, the institution reports combined academic and career counseling, employment services for current students, placement services for graduates, participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program, a dedicated point of contact for veterans and service members, and a published web address for services for people with disabilities.
What Happened to Those Who Have Already Attended
Of the full-time bachelor's-degree-seeking cohort that entered in fall 2022, totaling 348 students, 82 out of every 100 met the official retention criterion: they were still enrolled there or had already graduated one year later. That figure is slightly above the midpoint among similar schools. There are two things this number does not tell you: the source does not distinguish between those in that 82 who were still studying and those who had already graduated, and not returning is not the same as dropping out—a person who transferred to another college and remained enrolled there is counted the same as someone who stopped studying altogether.
Of the cohort that began in 2017, consisting of 339 full-time students, 71 out of every 100 graduated within six years. At the four-year mark, the figure falls to 63 out of every 100—an eight-point difference between the two time frames. Compared with similar schools, this six-year rate is in the top quarter: three out of every four similar schools reported an equal or lower proportion. It is a high figure. But a high percentage is not a promise for your child: it describes what happened to the cohort that entered in 2017. What is within your control is making sure your child starts the first semester with the credits in order, knows who the academic advisor is, and knows when registration opens for courses in the major.
A longer follow-up, covering eight years, tracked a cohort of 417 students who entered between July 2015 and June 2016: 76 out of every 100 had earned a degree or certificate from that institution as of August 2023. Among Pell Grant recipients, the figure was 72 out of every 100—six points below the group without Pell. Compared with similar schools, it also falls in the top quarter. Again, this is an earlier cohort, not a prediction about your child. It is worth asking about current support in the program your child is interested in and about outcomes for more recent cohorts, if the school has them available.
What This Article Cannot Tell You
This overview does not cover what happens after graduation—earnings, employment, or exactly how much debt remains upon leaving. That information is not in this source and cannot be invented here.
How to Combine This with Your Decision
You now know in detail one of the pieces you need: what kind of college Washington & Jefferson College is, how accessible admission is, what it truly costs, and what happened to those who have already attended. It is a small, highly residential college with relatively accessible admissions but few admitted students deciding to enroll, a high net price even for lower-income families, and an environment where taking out federal loans is common, not the exception.
That piece does not decide anything by itself. What remains is what your child wants to study and what your child has already built in order to get here. Also remaining is what your family can and is willing to pay, with the exact figure in hand rather than the list price.
Your child has a part to do: research the program, write the essay, speak with the coach if interested in a sport, and ask about AP credits. You have your own part: complete the FAFSA, request the aid letter in writing, compare net prices across schools, and do not stop at the list price. Neither part belongs to the college, and the college cannot do either your part or your child's.
With this piece now understood, the next step is yours: combine it with the other two, and a plan will emerge.
Source note: The information in this article comes from data reported by Washington & Jefferson College to the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS system, corresponding primarily to the years 2022-23 and 2023-24, along with admissions follow-up cohorts from 2017 and 2015-16 as indicated in each section. Best College Aid does not represent Washington & Jefferson College or any agency of the United States government.