WCU Legislative Talking Points
Important Points for Sharing with Elected Officials and Community Leaders
Western Carolina University is the westernmost campus in the UNC system and serves more than 10,300 students in
undergraduate and graduate programs. The university has a more than $900 million economic impact on the state of
North Carolina, more than half of which stays in the Western North Carolina region.
• WCU is growing. Only six campuses (out of 16) had increased enrollment for this academic year.
Western had the largest enrollment increase of all the campuses (real # and %).
• We are retaining our students. Retention has risen from 73.6% to 78.7%.
• The UNC system budget has had five straight years of budget cuts with WCU losing $32 million in
appropriations during that period. WCU has lost $39 million since 2008.
• In the last ten years, for every 1% our budget has been cut we have seen a 1% increase in our
enrollment (38.5% increase in enrollment, 39.5% cuts to our budget).
• WCU “program prioritization” eliminated 10 programs on campus that had low enrollment.
• Funding was reallocated to areas of high demand including core courses.
• There has been increased student interest in several undergraduate programs, including
engineering, health and the human sciences.
• Programs at Biltmore Park allows for more expansion in these areas with a focus on graduate and
professional degree programs.
• Biltmore Park offers nursing, MPA, MBA and new undergraduate engineering programs.
• Growth in STEM programs has placed enormous pressure on science core courses and
campus infrastructure.
• Using ability to self-liquidate debt to build necessary new dining facility, renovate residence halls.
• Our science building is outdated with limited capacity and room for renovation. This is beginning
to cause a bottle-neck for our high-demand majors and our ability to get students through gen-ed
curriculum in a timely fashion. This will continue to worsen as our enrollment increases.