Student Population at MSU

How many students at MSU?

For the academic year 2024-2025, Montana State University has a total enrollment of 17,135 students, including 15,046 undergraduate and 2,089 graduate students.

Gender Breakdown: 8,879 male students (51.8%) and 8,256 female students (48.2%) are attending .
Race and Ethnicity Breakdown: The two largest race/ethnicity groups are 14,010 White students (81.8%) and 1,092 Hispanic students (6.4%).
Class Level Breakdown: 15,046 undergraduate students (87.8%) and 2,089 graduate students (12.2%).
Class Delivery: 909 students are enrolled online exclusively, while 2,540 students take a hybrid mix of online and on-campus courses.

Compared to similar public Research University (very high research activity) - which average 34,856 - MSU's body is much smaller.

Explore complete student demographics below, including gender ratio, race and ethnicity, age distribution, and distance learning statistics.

Explore Montana State University

Enrollment by Gender and Class Level

By gender, 8,879 male (51.82%) and 8,256 female (48.18%) students are attending Montana State University. The number of male students per 100 females students (male-to-female ratio) is 107.55.

By class level, 15,046 (87.81%) are undergraduate students and 2,089 (12.19%) are graduate students. Among undergraduates, 52.82% are male and 47.18% are female, while among graduate students, 44.57% are male and 55.43% are female.

Total Student Enrolled By Gender
	Total	Undergraduate	Graduate
Total	17,135	15,046	2,089
Men	8,879	7,948	931
Women	8,256	7,098	1,158

Student Distribution by Race/Ethnicity

By race/ethnicity, 14,010 White, 100 Black, and 179 Asian students out of a total of 17,135 are attending at Montana State University. Comprehensive enrollment statistic data by race/ethnicity is shown in the chart below (academic year 2024-2025 data).

Montana State University is somewhat diverse with a diversity index of 32.4% measured by Census Bureau Diversity Index. The institution has limited racial and ethnic diversity in its student population.

All Students

Race/Ethnicity Distribution (Total)
Race	Total	Men	Women
American Indian or Native American	283	100	183
Asian	179	69	110
Black	100	64	36
Hispanic	1,092	504	588
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders	13	6	7
White	14,010	7,373	6,637
Two or more races	898	453	445
Race Unknown	141	78	63

Undergraduate

Race/Ethnicity Distribution (Undergraduate)
Race	Total	Men	Women
American Indian or Native American	214	81	133
Asian	157	60	97
Black	89	60	29
Hispanic	980	462	518
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders	12	6	6
White	12,484	6,703	5,781
Two or more races	818	414	404
Race Unknown	117	67	50

Graduate

Race/Ethnicity Distribution (Graduate)
Race	Total	Men	Women
American Indian or Native American	69	19	50
Asian	22	9	13
Black	11	4	7
Hispanic	112	42	70
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders	1	0	1
White	1,526	670	856
Two or more races	80	39	41
Race Unknown	24	11	13

Student Age Distribution

By age, MSU has 507 students under 18 years old and 34 students over 65 years old. There are 14,464 students under 25 years old, and 2,671 students over 25 years old out of 17,135 total students.

In undergraduate programs, 507 students are younger than 18 and 17 students are older than 65. MSU has 13,935 undergraduate students aged under 25 and 1,111 students aged 25 and over.

It has 529 graduate students aged under 25 and 1,560 students aged 25 and over.

All Students

Student Age Distribution (Total)
Age	Total	Men	Women
Under 18	507	350	157
18-19	5,795	2,826	2,969
20-21	5,376	2,511	2,865
22-24	2,786	1,169	1,617
25-29	1,316	633	683
30-34	555	270	285
35-39	273	149	124
40-49	338	234	104
50-64	155	96	59
Over 65	34	18	16

Undergraduate

Student Age Distribution (Undergraduate)
Age	Total	Men	Women
Under 18	507	350	157
18-19	5,795	2,826	2,969
20-21	5,345	2,488	2,857
22-24	2,288	903	1,385
25-29	642	279	363
30-34	211	101	110
35-39	100	53	47
40-49	88	56	32
50-64	53	35	18
Over 65	17	7	10

Graduate

Student Age Distribution (Graduate)
Age	Total	Men	Women
20-21	31	23	8
22-24	498	266	232
25-29	674	354	320
30-34	344	169	175
35-39	173	96	77
40-49	250	178	72
50-64	102	61	41
Over 65	17	11	6

Online Student Enrollment

Distance learning, also called online education, is very attractive to students, especially those who want to continue education and work in the field. At Montana State University, 909 students are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 2,540 students are enrolled in some online courses.

483 students who live in Montana or the jurisdiction in which the school is located are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 426 students live in another State or outside of the United States.

Online Population

Online Student Population
	All Students	Enrolled Exclusively Online Courses	Enrolled in Some Online Courses
All Students	17,135	909	2,540
Undergraduate	15,046	512	2,327
Graduate	2,089	397	213

By Locality

Online Student Population by Locality
	Montana Residents	Other States in U.S.	Outside of U.S.
All Students	483	410	16
Undergraduate	294	218	0
Graduate	189	192	16

Transfer-in Students (Undergraduate)

Among 15,046 enrolled in undergraduate programs, 529 students have transferred-in from other institutions. The percentage of transfer-in students is 3.52%.430 students have transferred in as full-time status and 99 students transferred in as part-time status.

Transfer-in Students (Undergraduate)
	Number of Students
Regular Full-time	12,540
Transfer-in Full-time	430
Regular Part-time	1,977
Transfer-in Part-time	99

MSU Enrollment Frequently Asked Questions

How many students attend MSU?

For the academic year 2024-2025, 17,135 students are enrolled at MSU.

How many undergraduate and graduate students are at MSU?

15,046 undergraduate and 2,089 graduate students are enrolled at MSU.

What is the gender breakdown at MSU?

8,879 male (51.82%) and 8,256 female (48.18%) students are attending MSU.

What is the international student enrollment at MSU?

419 international students (2.45%) are enrolled at MSU, including 175 undergraduate and 244 graduate students.

How diverse is the student population at MSU?

MSU has a student population that is predominantly White: 14,010 White (81.76%), 100 Black (0.58%), and 179 Asian (1.04%) students are enrolled.

How many students at MSU are under 18 or over 65?

507 students are under 18 and 34 students are over 65 years old.

How many students at MSU take online courses?

909 students are enrolled exclusively online, and 2,540 students take some online courses.

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