Enrollment Trends at Fairfield

The student population at Fairfield University is 6,864 (5,391 undergraduate and 1,473 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 1,726 (33.59%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at Fairfield is 78.54% which is increased by 1,421 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 305 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 68 male students for every 100 female students, up from 63 in 2015.
556 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 2,038.46% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 5,660 where 6,864 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 8 year-over-year increases and 1 decrease. It peaked at 6,864 students in 2025 and was lowest at 5,137 in 2017. Overall, enrollment rose from 5,138 to 6,864 students, a net gain of 1,726 (33.6%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,138	3,970	1,594	2,376	1,168	401	767
2016-17	5,137 -1	4,032 62	1,586 -8	2,446 70	1,105 -63	350 -51	755 -12
2017-18	5,192 55	4,113 81	1,636 50	2,477 31	1,079 -26	328 -22	751 -4
2018-19	5,273 81	4,177 64	1,667 31	2,510 33	1,096 17	338 10	758 7
2019-20	5,349 76	4,303 126	1,755 88	2,548 38	1,046 -50	307 -31	739 -19
2020-21	5,513 164	4,354 51	1,807 52	2,547 -1	1,159 113	361 54	798 59
2021-22	5,826 313	4,603 249	1,937 130	2,666 119	1,223 64	405 44	818 20
2022-23	6,019 193	4,757 154	2,016 79	2,741 75	1,262 39	441 36	821 3
2023-24	6,289 270	4,968 211	2,122 106	2,846 105	1,321 59	443 2	878 57
2024-25	6,864 575	5,391 423	2,274 152	3,117 271	1,473 152	504 61	969 91
Average	5,660	4,467	1,839	2,627	1,193	388	805

Fairfield University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 4,467 where 5,391 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 Fairfield University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,970	3,704	1,475	2,229	266	119	147
2016-17	4,032	3,803	1,495	2,308	229	91	138
2017-18	4,113	3,879	1,541	2,338	234	95	139
2018-19	4,177	3,989	1,582	2,407	188	85	103
2019-20	4,303	4,160	1,680	2,480	143	75	68
2020-21	4,354	4,231	1,740	2,491	123	67	56
2021-22	4,603	4,486	1,873	2,613	117	64	53
2022-23	4,757	4,655	1,954	2,701	102	62	40
2023-24	4,968	4,903	2,084	2,819	65	38	27
2024-25	5,391	5,326	2,249	3,077	65	25	40
Average	4,467	4,467	1,767	2,546	4,467	72	81

Fairfield University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 1,193 where 1,473 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 Fairfield University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,168	513	218	295	655	183	472
2016-17	1,105	467	187	280	638	163	475
2017-18	1,079	476	151	325	603	177	426
2018-19	1,096	472	169	303	624	169	455
2019-20	1,046	445	131	314	601	176	425
2020-21	1,159	582	195	387	577	166	411
2021-22	1,223	567	210	357	656	195	461
2022-23	1,262	606	247	359	656	194	462
2023-24	1,321	625	225	400	696	218	478
2024-25	1,473	752	271	481	721	233	488
Average	1,193	1,193	200	350	1,193	187	455

Fairfield University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 75.61%. The percentage was 71.21% 10 years ago and Fairfield still has a high percentage of white students. 2.29% of enrolled students is Asian and 2.48% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 8.33% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students increased from 71.21% to 75.61%. Asian enrollment grew from 2.18% to 2.29%. Black student enrollment decreased from 2.92% to 2.48%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 7.24% to 8.33%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.4198 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This decreased from 0.4861 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has declined.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Fairfield 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	2	112	150	372	2	3,659	73
2016-17	1	120	162	396	4	3,757	75
2017-18	4	124	148	406	2	3,916	79
2018-19	5	146	151	396	2	3,983	79
2019-20	5	146	143	413	2	4,018	87
2020-21	4	156	142	445	2	4,150	90
2021-22	3	169	145	431	2	4,373	90
2022-23	2	141	128	448	1	4,637	110
2023-24	4	148	142	521	2	4,878	113
2024-25	5	157	170	572	4	5,190	143
Average	4	142	148	440	2	4,256	94

Fairfield University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

556 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 8% of total students. The number of online students has increased 2,038.46% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Fairfield University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	5,138	26	212	4,900
2016-17	5,137	19	546	4,572
2017-18	5,192	41	481	4,670
2018-19	5,273	53	707	4,513
2019-20	5,349	45	826	4,478
2020-21	5,513	1,187	784	3,542
2021-22	5,826	261	1,509	4,056
2022-23	6,019	176	1,067	4,776
2023-24	6,289	386	1,348	4,555
2024-25	6,864	556	1,393	4,915
Average	5,660	275	887	4,498

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Enrollment Trends at Fairfield

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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