Enrollment Trends at BSU

The student population at Ball State University is 21,089 (15,189 undergraduate and 5,900 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 107 (0.50%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at BSU is 72.02% which is decreased by 1,413 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 1,306 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 53 male students for every 100 female students, down from 62 in 2015.
5,957 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 70.25% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 21,326 where 21,089 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 5 year-over-year increases and 4 decreases. It peaked at 22,513 students in 2018 and was lowest at 19,777 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 21,196 to 21,089 students, a net loss of 107 (0.5%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Ball State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	21,196	16,602	6,784	9,818	4,594	1,312	3,282
2016-17	21,998 802	17,011 409	6,885 101	10,126 308	4,987 393	1,371 59	3,616 334
2017-18	22,513 515	17,004 -7	6,881 -4	10,123 -3	5,509 522	1,341 -30	4,168 552
2018-19	21,884 -629	16,160 -844	6,528 -353	9,632 -491	5,724 215	1,237 -104	4,487 319
2019-20	22,443 559	16,702 542	6,646 118	10,056 424	5,741 17	1,237	4,504 17
2020-21	21,597 -846	15,780 -922	6,186 -460	9,594 -462	5,817 76	1,250 13	4,567 63
2021-22	20,319 -1,278	14,898 -882	5,766 -420	9,132 -462	5,421 -396	1,245 -5	4,176 -391
2022-23	19,777 -542	14,416 -482	5,622 -144	8,794 -338	5,361 -60	1,260 15	4,101 -75
2023-24	20,440 663	14,874 458	5,848 226	9,026 232	5,566 205	1,293 33	4,273 172
2024-25	21,089 649	15,189 315	5,912 64	9,277 251	5,900 334	1,388 95	4,512 239
Average	21,326	15,864	6,306	9,558	5,462	1,293	4,169

Ball State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 15,864 where 15,189 students are attending the Undergraduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Ball State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	16,602	14,716	6,026	8,690	1,886	758	1,128
2016-17	17,011	15,110	6,170	8,940	1,901	715	1,186
2017-18	17,004	15,203	6,211	8,992	1,801	670	1,131
2018-19	16,160	14,731	5,990	8,741	1,429	538	891
2019-20	16,702	14,693	5,876	8,817	2,009	770	1,239
2020-21	15,780	14,334	5,601	8,733	1,446	585	861
2021-22	14,898	13,041	5,052	7,989	1,857	714	1,143
2022-23	14,416	12,622	4,910	7,712	1,794	712	1,082
2023-24	14,874	12,906	5,117	7,789	1,968	731	1,237
2024-25	15,189	13,071	5,186	7,885	2,118	726	1,392
Average	15,864	15,864	5,614	8,429	15,864	692	1,129

Ball State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 5,462 where 5,900 students are attending the Graduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Ball State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	4,594	1,395	508	887	3,199	804	2,395
2016-17	4,987	1,279	464	815	3,708	907	2,801
2017-18	5,509	1,237	437	800	4,272	904	3,368
2018-19	5,724	1,195	388	807	4,529	849	3,680
2019-20	5,741	1,158	352	806	4,583	885	3,698
2020-21	5,817	1,246	380	866	4,571	870	3,701
2021-22	5,421	1,218	338	880	4,203	907	3,296
2022-23	5,361	1,175	363	812	4,186	897	3,289
2023-24	5,566	1,248	380	868	4,318	913	3,405
2024-25	5,900	1,242	350	892	4,658	1,038	3,620
Average	5,462	5,462	396	843	5,462	897	3,325

Ball State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 69.11%. The percentage was 78.65% 10 years ago and BSU still has a high percentage of white students. 2.57% of enrolled students is Asian and 10.85% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 8.90% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 78.65% to 69.11%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.33% to 2.57%. Black student enrollment increased from 6.91% to 10.85%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 3.98% to 8.90%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5003 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.3744 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Ball State University over the past 11 years (2015-2025).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2015-16	17	281	1,464	843	27	16,670	488
2016-17	9	312	1,567	980	23	17,240	560
2017-18	5	344	1,739	1,161	21	17,546	656
2018-19	2	371	1,681	1,237	28	16,995	684
2019-20	8	401	1,731	1,406	26	17,141	781
2020-21	28	426	1,876	1,479	28	16,323	730
2021-22	27	433	1,780	1,453	19	15,287	728
2022-23	24	439	1,785	1,510	14	14,557	770
2023-24	29	538	2,016	1,706	11	14,551	870
2024-25	37	543	2,289	1,876	16	14,574	893
Average	19	409	1,793	1,365	21	16,088	716

Ball State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

5,957 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 28% of total students. The number of online students has increased 70.25% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Ball State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	21,196	3,499	5,323	12,374
2016-17	21,998	4,097	5,298	12,603
2017-18	22,513	4,670	5,559	12,284
2018-19	21,884	5,037	4,802	12,045
2019-20	22,443	5,079	4,730	12,634
2020-21	21,597	6,520	12,832	2,245
2021-22	20,319	5,068	7,100	8,151
2022-23	19,777	5,040	6,716	8,021
2023-24	20,440	5,380	7,052	8,008
2024-25	21,089	5,957	7,416	7,716
Average	21,326	5,035	6,683	9,608

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Enrollment Trends at BSU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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