Transforming Lives
Washington State University (WSU) transforms lives through education, research, and community outreach throughout the state of Washington. It’s a mission that has guided the university since its founding in 1890, and continues to guide us today. In 2025, WSU is celebrating 135 years of delivering life-changing knowledge and discoveries to citizens across the state, region, nation, and world.
The state’s only land-grant research institution and one of two R1 public research universities, WSU provides a world-class education to more than 25,500 students through its five physical campuses and virtual Global Campus. By leveraging this multi-campus structure, the university strives to ensure that higher education is accessible at an affordable cost—a WSU commitment to the state’s citizens. At WSU, the land-grant mission is exemplified through its commitment to providing accessible education, conducting impactful research, and serving communities both locally and globally. To learn more about the WSU campuses, see Appendix I.
WSU is one of 146 public and private universities in the United States—out of more than 4,500—singled out for its “very high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university’s research addresses challenges in areas such as food security and sustainable agriculture, community and public health, environmental sciences and energy futures, biomedical, life sciences, and biotechnology, next-generation materials and advanced manufacturing, and AI/ML and Robotics.
WSU is a major driver of Washington’s economy, partnering with many of the state’s leading industries, including agriculture, aerospace, health care, software, and construction. The university is responsible for thousands of jobs statewide and generates an annual economic impact of billions of dollars.
Every community in the state is connected to the university. WSU Extension provides critical services in every county in Washington, and on the Colville Reservation. Research stations in key locations support industries, explore solutions to pressing problems, and help educate Washingtonians beyond the classroom.
WSU has total annual operating expenditures of approximately $1.3 billion. To learn more about WSU’s budget, see Appendix II.