| Location: | Rockies |
| Setting: | Mid-size City Setting |
| Type: | Private |
| Size: | Small (Under 2,000 Undergrad) |
Westminster College, Salt Lake City, or simply "Westminster College" is a four year accredited liberal arts college located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. It also offers four graduate programs. Its mascot is the griffin. It is the only nondenominational private liberal arts college in the state of Utah.
Westminster enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate students from 39 states and 31 foreign nations.
The school was founded in 1875 as the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, a prep school under the supervision of the First Presbyterian church of Salt Lake City.
At that time, many Protestant denominations flocked to Salt Lake City in order to try to "save" people who belonged to what they considered a cult. Westminster is the only remaining vestige of a trend in the late 1800s in which the Protestants set up private primary and secondary schools and offered free tuition to children in order to try to convert them out of Mormonism.
College level classes were first offered in 1897 as Sheldon Jackson College. It was given that name after a Presbyterian minister and its primary benefactor, Sheldon Jackson. High school level classes ceased to be offered in 1945. Westminster severed its ties to the Presbyterian church in 1974.
The college changed its name to "Westminster College" in 1902 to better reflect a more general Protestant education. The name is derived from the Westminster Confession of Faith, a Presbyterian confession of faith, which, in turn, was named for a London suburb where it was devised. Today, students from all religious persuasions (or none) are welcome.
The college is also no longer antagonistic toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). About 40 percent of its students are Latter-Day Saints, approximately the same percentage as for the general population of Salt Lake City. Many LDS students attending the school say they like the proximity to church activities but prefer the open, diverse and less restrictive attitude at Westminster over the parochialism they would find at an LDS school such as Brigham Young University. As a means of marketing the school to LDS students, as well as students of non-Christian faith, the school abandoned the school mascot, the Parson, in favor of the more secular Griffin. The school also proposed abandoning its traditional crest emblem, a shield emblazoned with the term "Pro Christo et Libertate." However, students, including student body president, Jonathan Jemming, actively protested the administrative effort and the school crest was preserved.
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| Percent of Students International: | 2% |
| On-Campus Housing Available: | Yes |
| Percent of Students Living On-Campus: | 23% |
| Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: | No |
| Member of: | NAA, NAIA |
| Sports Include: |
Basketball (Frontier Conference) Track (Frontier Conference) |
| Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) | Expenses | ||
Published Tuition and Fees: |
$ 19,730 | ||
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 19,440 | ||
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 284 | ||
| Financial Aid | Avg. Amount Received | % of Students Receiving Aid | |
Federal Grants: |
$ 3,287 | 31% | |
State and Local Grants: |
$ 615 | 14% | |
Institutional Grants: |
$ 8,284 | 97% | |
Student Loans: |
$ 4,744 | 62% | |
Any Aid: |
97% |
| Acceptance Rate: | 89% (Selective) |
| Test Scores | |
| SAT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting SAT Scores: | 34% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Verbal: 490, Math: 470 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Verbal: 630, Math: 600 |
| ACT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting ACT Scores: | 82% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Composite: 21, Verbal: 20, Math: 19 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Composite: 26, Verbal: 27, Math: 26 |
| Application Fee: | $ 40.00 |
| Formal Demonstration of Competencies: | Not Required |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent: | Recommended |
| High School GPA: | Required |
| High School Rank: | Recommended |
| High School Record: | Required |
| Recommendations: | Recommended |
| TOEFL: | Required |
| Test Scores: | Required |
