Enrollment Trends at Gardner-Webb

The student population at Gardner-Webb University is 3,104 (1,861 undergraduate and 1,243 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 1,225 (28.30%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at Gardner-Webb is 59.95% which is decreased by 775 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 450 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 50 male students for every 100 female students, up from 47 in 2015.
1,075 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has decreased by -12.74% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 3,553 where 3,104 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 1 year-over-year increase and 8 decreases. It peaked at 4,329 students in 2016 and was lowest at 3,104 in 2025. Overall, enrollment dropped from 4,329 to 3,104 students, a net loss of 1,225 (28.3%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	4,329	2,636	905	1,731	1,693	487	1,206
2016-17	3,915 -414	2,362 -274	851 -54	1,511 -220	1,553 -140	452 -35	1,101 -105
2017-18	3,818 -97	2,215 -147	768 -83	1,447 -64	1,603 50	458 6	1,145 44
2018-19	3,598 -220	2,036 -179	729 -39	1,307 -140	1,562 -41	427 -31	1,135 -10
2019-20	3,518 -80	1,999 -37	701 -28	1,298 -9	1,519 -43	443 16	1,076 -59
2020-21	3,536 18	2,071 72	746 45	1,325 27	1,465 -54	431 -12	1,034 -42
2021-22	3,441 -95	1,983 -88	700 -46	1,283 -42	1,458 -7	446 15	1,012 -22
2022-23	3,144 -297	1,812 -171	646 -54	1,166 -117	1,332 -126	370 -76	962 -50
2023-24	3,125 -19	1,840 28	667 21	1,173 7	1,285 -47	366 -4	919 -43
2024-25	3,104 -21	1,861 21	705 38	1,156 -17	1,243 -42	333 -33	910 -9
Average	3,553	2,082	742	1,340	1,471	421	1,050

Gardner-Webb University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 2,082 where 1,861 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 Gardner-Webb University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,636	2,099	790	1,309	537	115	422
2016-17	2,362	1,908	742	1,166	454	109	345
2017-18	2,215	1,781	662	1,119	434	106	328
2018-19	2,036	1,641	624	1,017	395	105	290
2019-20	1,999	1,632	626	1,006	367	75	292
2020-21	2,071	1,726	682	1,044	345	64	281
2021-22	1,983	1,669	647	1,022	314	53	261
2022-23	1,812	1,516	610	906	296	36	260
2023-24	1,840	1,578	633	945	262	34	228
2024-25	1,861	1,635	662	973	226	43	183
Average	2,082	2,082	668	1,051	2,082	74	289

Gardner-Webb University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 1,471 where 1,243 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 Gardner-Webb University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,693	222	95	127	1,471	392	1,079
2016-17	1,553	223	90	133	1,330	362	968
2017-18	1,603	204	89	115	1,399	369	1,030
2018-19	1,562	213	95	118	1,349	332	1,017
2019-20	1,519	310	121	189	1,209	322	887
2020-21	1,465	419	158	261	1,046	273	773
2021-22	1,458	468	150	318	990	296	694
2022-23	1,332	390	103	287	942	267	675
2023-24	1,285	420	115	305	865	251	614
2024-25	1,243	432	126	306	811	207	604
Average	1,471	1,471	114	216	1,471	307	834

Gardner-Webb University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 46.55% and the percentage of black students is 24.65% at Gardner-Webb University. 1.29% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 3.16% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 65.95% to 46.55%. Asian enrollment declined from 1.36% to 1.29%. Black student enrollment increased from 21.69% to 24.65%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.61% to 3.16%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.7209 which indicates that quite diverse. This increased from 0.5171 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Gardner-Webb 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	28	59	939	113	0	2,855	0
2016-17	23	56	797	103	10	2,559	12
2017-18	23	45	779	112	7	2,487	45
2018-19	22	44	752	108	6	2,233	51
2019-20	19	41	789	127	6	2,097	49
2020-21	21	40	864	131	8	2,025	78
2021-22	20	37	845	128	11	1,947	79
2022-23	21	35	772	109	11	1,641	75
2023-24	20	40	786	100	8	1,510	60
2024-25	24	40	765	98	3	1,445	66
Average	22	44	809	113	7	2,080	52

Gardner-Webb University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

1,075 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 35% of total students. The number of online students has decreased -12.74% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Gardner-Webb University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	4,329	1,232	710	2,387
2016-17	3,915	1,100	655	2,160
2017-18	3,818	1,139	774	1,905
2018-19	3,598	1,101	654	1,843
2019-20	3,518	1,115	715	1,688
2020-21	3,536	1,394	1,228	914
2021-22	3,441	806	723	1,912
2022-23	3,144	897	600	1,647
2023-24	3,125	1,152	853	1,120
2024-25	3,104	1,075	890	1,139
Average	3,553	1,101	780	1,672

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Enrollment Trends at Gardner-Webb

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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