Evergreen State College

The Evergreen State College
MottoOmnia Extares (Latin)
Motto in English
"Let it all hang out"
TypePublic liberal arts college
Established1967 (1967)
AccreditationNWCCU
Academic affiliation
COPLAC
Endowment$19.5 million (2023)
PresidentJohn Carmichael
ProvostNoah Coburn
DeanHolly Joseph
Academic staff
86 full-time (2023)
84 adjunct (2023)
7 part-time (2023)
Administrative staff
84 (2023)
Students2,505 (fall 2024)
Postgraduates209 (fall 2024)
Location,
United States

47°04′23″N 122°58′34″W / 47.073°N 122.976°W / 47.073; -122.976
CampusMidsize suburb, 1,000 acres (400 ha)
NewspaperThe Cooper Point Journal
ColorsGreen and white
   
NicknameGeoduck
Sporting affiliations
NAIACCC
MascotSpeedy the Geoduck
Websiteevergreen.edu
Interactive map of College location

The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in unincorporated Thurston County, Washington, with an Olympia postal address. Founded in 1967, and offering classes in the fall of 1971, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a predetermined path of study. Full-time students can enroll in interdisciplinary academic programs, in addition to stand-alone classes. Programs typically offer students the opportunity to study several disciplines in a coordinated manner. Faculty write substantive narrative evaluations of students' work in place of issuing grades.

Evergreen's main campus, which includes its own saltwater beach, spans 1,000 acres of forest close to the southern end of Puget Sound. Evergreen also has a satellite campus in nearby Tacoma. The school offers the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Environmental Studies, Master in Teaching, and Master of Public Administration degrees.

Evergreen was one of many alternative colleges and programs launched in the 1960s and 1970s, often described as experiments. While the vast majority of these have either closed or adopted more mainstream approaches, Evergreen continues to teach a non-traditional curriculum. The college experienced enrollment declines in the late 2010s but had record growth between 2022-2023 and school years 2023-2024 and four straight years of enrollment growth as of the 2024-2025 school year.