University of West Alabama

Public · Selective · AL

Photo: Mld74 (Public domain)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationAL · South

SettingRural

Undergrads2,974

Student:faculty19:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate14.4%

6-yr grad rate34.7%

Drop-out rate35.1%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$11k

Out-of-state tuition$20k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity50.4%

Gender diversity71.4%

International2.1%

Identity—

Overview

The University of West Alabama is a small public university in rural Livingston, near the Mississippi state line, with a historic mission in teacher education that dates back to its founding as a normal school. It has grown a substantial online division serving working adults across the region and beyond, operating alongside its smaller traditional residential campus.

Academics

Education remains the university's signature strength, reflecting its founding purpose as a teacher-training institution, and the online programs extend that reach well beyond Alabama's Black Belt region to adult and nontraditional learners nationally. On the residential side, class sizes are small and instruction tends to be close and personal, typical of a university this size.

Campus & student life

The Livingston campus keeps a close-knit, small-town character, with a much smaller and quieter social scene than larger state universities, set in Alabama's rural Black Belt region. Athletics and campus organizations provide the bulk of traditional-student social life on a campus where most students know each other by name.

Getting in

Admissions is accessible rather than highly selective, consistent with the university's regional and access-oriented mission of serving students from the surrounding rural counties as well as adult learners returning to school online.

After graduation

Education graduates place into K-12 schools throughout Alabama and the broader Southeast, consistent with the university's teacher-training mission, while online-division graduates are typically adult learners pursuing degree completion to advance in a career already underway rather than starting a new field.

Worth knowing

The large online division means the university effectively serves two quite different student populations, traditional residential undergraduates and adult learners studying remotely, under one institutional roof.

uwa.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate42.6%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 860–1120 · ACT 16–21

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying