Admissions | Current Applicants (2024)

At WGU, we don't just want you to enroll. We want you to succeed.

That's why every step of the enrollment process is focused on helping you and the university jointly assess your personal readiness to take on a full-time, online, competency-based degree program. It's the reason you have an Enrollment Counselor. And it's why you have a personally assigned faculty member—yourProgram Mentor—whose sole job responsibility is to ensure you succeed and graduate. When you enroll in a WGU program, you can do so confidently—because you know we're confident in you, too!

There are a number of things you can do to ensure you're ready to fit college into your life.

• Start by making school a top priority.
• Prepare to set aside time and energy specifically dedicated to schoolwork.
• Set up a schedule and study space, planning to spend 20 hours a week on your studies.
• Set attainable, short-term goals, which will keep you on track to your long-term goal of a degree without overwhelming or discouraging you.
• Identify your personal support system—family members, coworkers, friends, whoever you can count on.

Learn more about Program Mentors

The core of WGU's mission is to make a high-quality higher education accessible to everyone—and that includes financial accessibility. We prioritize affordability, as well as value—which means getting more bang for less buck.

We hope you've been shopping around and comparing our tuition with other online and traditional universities. You'll find our tuition and flat, transparent fees highly competitive—often half what you'd pay elsewhere.

But even at its most affordable, college tuition is a major investment. Here are a few ways you can fit a WGU program into your budget:

• Explorescholarship opportunities. With more than $23 million in scholarships available in 2021, see what you might be eligible to apply for.
• Apply forfinancial aid. WGU is approved to offer federal financial aid, but also provides students with the financial counseling and support to ensure you borrow responsibly. It's why our student loan default rate is less than half the national average, and why our students, on average, graduate with half the student debt alumni of other schools have.
• Speed up. Our competency-based model, combined with a flat-rate tuition charged per term (rather than per course or per credit), means that when you progress faster through material you already know well or learn quickly, you can graduate sooner and reduce your overall cost!

Learn more about Scholarships

Going back to school requires a real time commitment. You should plan to fit about 20 hours of school time into your schedule each week. But at WGU, where and how school fits into your schedule is up to you.Flexibility is our hallmark!

What does that mean?

• 24/7 access to coursework and study materials.
• The ability to do your schoolwork—even take secure, proctored tests—any time, day or night, and anywhere you can access the internet.
• No requirement to log in to class at a certain time.
• The ability to create a personalized pace and timeline for each course that accounts for your schedule. As long as you complete courses at the minimum required pace, you can dedicate more study time one week and slow down when life gets hectic the next week.
• A Program Mentor who can help you with time management and who understands that no two lives are alike for today’s busy adult students.

Read about Competency-Based Education

Learn more about the student experience

If you have prior college experience, please request all transcripts from previously attended institutions and submit them to the Transcripts Department of WGU. These will be used to evaluate the credits you've already earned for possible transfer into your program, or confirm the degrees you've already obtained

Requesting transcripts from previous schools you've attended varies depending on the school's policies, but WGU's Transcripts Department and your Enrollment Counselor can help answer any questions you have. If you've applied for admission but have not yet requested your transcripts, get started now to expedite your enrollment date!

Learn more about requesting your transcripts

At WGU, we care that you've learned what you need to know to be successful—not where or how you learned it. If you have credits from previous college experience, chances are many can be transferred to your bachelor's degree program at WGU.

For example, if you hold an associate's degree from an institution that is recognized as nationally or regionally accredited by the U.S. Department of Education, you should clear most of the lower-division general education requirements for a bachelor’s degree in business or information technology. But even if you've only taken a few courses, transfer credit can help speed your time to graduation, reduce your coursework load, and lower your overall tuition cost.

Learn more about transferring credits

Download the guide (PDF)

Your Enrollment Counselor: Your personal guide as you get going.

You've applied for admission to WGU—the huge first step on this important journey to your degree. Now, on to the next step.

Enrolling in a university program is a big decision. It's important that you take it seriously—and being a little nervous or uncertain is a good thing! You may also be ready to get started but need guidance on what to do next.

Your Enrollment Counselor is there for you as you get started on this adventure. Think of them as your guide as you gear up and get going, the trusted advisor you consult with as you embark on a new endeavor.

Justdon'tthink of them as a salesperson.

Your Enrollment Counselor is as invested in your success as you are. The last thing they want is for you to bite off more than you can chew. Work closely with your Enrollment Counselor and you'll be well on your way to your goals!

Who is my Enrollment Counselor?