Enrollment Trends at EKU

The student population at Eastern Kentucky University is 15,673 (13,448 undergraduate and 2,225 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 1,171 (6.95%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at EKU is 85.80% which is decreased by 879 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 292 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 63 male students for every 100 female students, down from 71 in 2015.
5,246 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 51.84% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 15,459 where 15,673 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 4 year-over-year increases and 5 decreases. It peaked at 16,881 students in 2017 and was lowest at 13,984 in 2022. Overall, enrollment dropped from 16,844 to 15,673 students, a net loss of 1,171 (7%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	16,844	14,327	6,146	8,181	2,517	826	1,691
2016-17	16,881 37	14,293 -34	6,172 26	8,121 -60	2,588 71	842 16	1,746 55
2017-18	16,612 -269	14,143 -150	6,035 -137	8,108 -13	2,469 -119	767 -75	1,702 -44
2018-19	15,815 -797	13,398 -745	5,650 -385	7,748 -360	2,417 -52	777 10	1,640 -62
2019-20	14,980 -835	12,662 -736	5,392 -258	7,270 -478	2,318 -99	727 -50	1,591 -49
2020-21	14,465 -515	12,070 -592	5,086 -306	6,984 -286	2,395 77	726 -1	1,669 78
2021-22	13,984 -481	11,684 -386	4,749 -337	6,935 -49	2,300 -95	689 -37	1,611 -58
2022-23	14,324 340	12,072 388	4,914 165	7,158 223	2,252 -48	674 -15	1,578 -33
2023-24	15,008 684	12,726 654	5,117 203	7,609 451	2,282 30	671 -3	1,611 33
2024-25	15,673 665	13,448 722	5,423 306	8,025 416	2,225 -57	654 -17	1,571 -40
Average	15,459	13,082	5,468	7,614	2,376	735	1,641

Eastern Kentucky University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 13,082 where 13,448 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 Eastern Kentucky University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	14,327	11,332	4,914	6,418	2,995	1,232	1,763
2016-17	14,293	11,010	4,821	6,189	3,283	1,351	1,932
2017-18	14,143	10,744	4,628	6,116	3,399	1,407	1,992
2018-19	13,398	10,451	4,458	5,993	2,947	1,192	1,755
2019-20	12,662	9,908	4,175	5,733	2,754	1,217	1,537
2020-21	12,070	9,572	3,936	5,636	2,498	1,150	1,348
2021-22	11,684	9,250	3,680	5,570	2,434	1,069	1,365
2022-23	12,072	9,515	3,785	5,730	2,557	1,129	1,428
2023-24	12,726	9,960	3,973	5,987	2,766	1,144	1,622
2024-25	13,448	10,600	4,241	6,359	2,848	1,182	1,666
Average	13,082	13,082	4,261	5,973	13,082	1,207	1,641

Eastern Kentucky University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 2,376 where 2,225 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 Eastern Kentucky University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,517	816	270	546	1,701	556	1,145
2016-17	2,588	812	267	545	1,776	575	1,201
2017-18	2,469	741	242	499	1,728	525	1,203
2018-19	2,417	715	229	486	1,702	548	1,154
2019-20	2,318	662	200	462	1,656	527	1,129
2020-21	2,395	682	186	496	1,713	540	1,173
2021-22	2,300	708	207	501	1,592	482	1,110
2022-23	2,252	654	207	447	1,598	467	1,131
2023-24	2,282	693	193	500	1,589	478	1,111
2024-25	2,225	713	214	499	1,512	440	1,072
Average	2,376	2,376	222	498	2,376	514	1,143

Eastern Kentucky University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 79.51%. The percentage was 82.81% 10 years ago and EKU still has a high percentage of white students. 1.21% of enrolled students is Asian and 6.71% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 5.44% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 82.81% to 79.51%. Asian enrollment grew from 0.87% to 1.21%. Black student enrollment increased from 5.77% to 6.71%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.32% to 5.44%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.3578 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.3097 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Eastern Kentucky 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	47	147	972	391	16	13,949	379
2016-17	40	136	918	428	16	14,214	411
2017-18	35	134	938	450	15	13,920	456
2018-19	34	152	884	463	12	13,278	464
2019-20	32	160	843	531	13	12,438	434
2020-21	22	171	860	585	13	11,777	516
2021-22	21	200	867	614	13	11,364	560
2022-23	31	209	966	672	16	11,534	631
2023-24	32	212	973	788	18	11,998	699
2024-25	33	189	1,051	852	14	12,461	782
Average	33	171	927	577	15	12,693	533

Eastern Kentucky University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

5,246 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 34% of total students. The number of online students has increased 51.84% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Eastern Kentucky University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	16,844	3,455	4,913	8,476
2016-17	16,881	3,680	4,950	8,251
2017-18	16,612	3,731	3,256	9,625
2018-19	15,815	3,578	3,554	8,683
2019-20	14,980	3,573	3,088	8,319
2020-21	14,465	3,912	4,603	5,950
2021-22	13,984	4,255	5,888	3,841
2022-23	14,324	4,278	5,931	4,115
2023-24	15,008	4,690	6,183	4,135
2024-25	15,673	5,246	6,148	4,279
Average	15,459	4,040	4,851	6,567

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Enrollment Trends at EKU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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