Enrollment Trends at Drake

The student population at Drake University is 4,345 (2,585 undergraduate and 1,760 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 646 (12.94%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at Drake is 59.49% which is decreased by 753 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 107 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 60 male students for every 100 female students, down from 70 in 2015.
546 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 9,000.00% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 4,783 where 4,345 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 3 year-over-year increases and 6 decreases. It peaked at 5,001 students in 2017 and was lowest at 4,345 in 2025. Overall, enrollment dropped from 4,991 to 4,345 students, a net loss of 646 (12.9%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	4,991	3,338	1,454	1,884	1,653	597	1,056
2016-17	5,001 10	3,267 -71	1,398 -56	1,869 -15	1,734 81	592 -5	1,142 86
2017-18	4,904 -97	3,098 -169	1,324 -74	1,774 -95	1,806 72	599 7	1,207 65
2018-19	4,869 -35	3,015 -83	1,271 -53	1,744 -30	1,854 48	594 -5	1,260 53
2019-20	4,884 15	2,954 -61	1,219 -52	1,735 -9	1,930 76	626 32	1,304 44
2020-21	4,774 -110	2,848 -106	1,171 -48	1,677 -58	1,926 -4	637 11	1,289 -15
2021-22	4,875 101	2,902 54	1,156 -15	1,746 69	1,973 47	658 21	1,315 26
2022-23	4,685 -190	2,835 -67	1,140 -16	1,695 -51	1,850 -123	612 -46	1,238 -77
2023-24	4,504 -181	2,702 -133	1,087 -53	1,615 -80	1,802 -48	609 -3	1,193 -45
2024-25	4,345 -159	2,585 -117	1,020 -67	1,565 -50	1,760 -42	610 1	1,150 -43
Average	4,783	2,954	1,224	1,730	1,829	613	1,215

Drake University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 2,954 where 2,585 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 Drake University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,338	3,167	1,362	1,805	171	92	79
2016-17	3,267	3,102	1,315	1,787	165	83	82
2017-18	3,098	2,955	1,252	1,703	143	72	71
2018-19	3,015	2,834	1,172	1,662	181	99	82
2019-20	2,954	2,830	1,153	1,677	124	66	58
2020-21	2,848	2,731	1,097	1,634	117	74	43
2021-22	2,902	2,776	1,087	1,689	126	69	57
2022-23	2,835	2,744	1,092	1,652	91	48	43
2023-24	2,702	2,607	1,031	1,576	95	56	39
2024-25	2,585	2,489	969	1,520	96	51	45
Average	2,954	2,954	1,153	1,671	2,954	71	60

Drake University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 1,829 where 1,760 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 Drake University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,653	856	348	508	797	249	548
2016-17	1,734	862	322	540	872	270	602
2017-18	1,806	879	327	552	927	272	655
2018-19	1,854	926	327	599	928	267	661
2019-20	1,930	937	334	603	993	292	701
2020-21	1,926	913	332	581	1,013	305	708
2021-22	1,973	921	330	591	1,052	328	724
2022-23	1,850	840	289	551	1,010	323	687
2023-24	1,802	820	268	552	982	341	641
2024-25	1,760	790	275	515	970	335	635
Average	1,829	1,829	315	559	1,829	298	656

Drake University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 72.61%. The percentage was 80.99% 10 years ago and Drake still has a high percentage of white students. 4.79% of enrolled students is Asian and 6.31% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 7.99% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 80.99% to 72.61%. Asian enrollment grew from 3.37% to 4.79%. Black student enrollment increased from 3.53% to 6.31%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 3.41% to 7.99%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.4582 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.3402 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Drake 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	8	168	176	170	1	4,042	93
2016-17	9	166	167	181	0	4,072	106
2017-18	5	166	205	206	0	3,966	121
2018-19	3	202	199	243	0	3,891	129
2019-20	2	207	237	270	0	3,872	133
2020-21	5	204	231	297	1	3,750	144
2021-22	4	197	244	296	0	3,794	171
2022-23	5	212	255	287	2	3,577	190
2023-24	6	214	265	299	4	3,371	188
2024-25	5	208	274	347	2	3,155	188
Average	5	194	225	260	1	3,749	146

Drake University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

546 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 13% of total students. The number of online students has increased 9,000.00% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Drake University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	4,991	6	255	4,730
2016-17	5,001	0	325	4,676
2017-18	4,904	20	219	4,665
2018-19	4,869	192	235	4,442
2019-20	4,884	277	1,036	3,571
2020-21	4,774	1,430	2,842	502
2021-22	4,875	462	1,686	2,727
2022-23	4,685	431	1,197	3,057
2023-24	4,504	410	1,096	2,998
2024-25	4,345	546	844	2,955
Average	4,783	377	974	3,432

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Enrollment Trends at Drake

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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