Enrollment Trends at HU

The student population at Howard University is 14,890 (11,519 undergraduate and 3,371 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 4,888 (48.87%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at HU is 77.36% which is increased by 4,636 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 252 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 42 male students for every 100 female students, down from 53 in 2015.
1,482 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 1,729.63% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 11,101 where 14,890 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 7 year-over-year increases and 2 decreases. It peaked at 14,890 students in 2025 and was lowest at 8,966 in 2017. Overall, enrollment rose from 10,002 to 14,890 students, a net gain of 4,888 (48.9%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	10,002	6,883	2,242	4,641	3,119	1,230	1,889
2016-17	8,966 -1,036	5,899 -984	1,955 -287	3,944 -697	3,067 -52	1,191 -39	1,876 -13
2017-18	9,392 426	6,354 455	1,985 30	4,369 425	3,038 -29	1,145 -46	1,893 17
2018-19	9,139 -253	6,243 -111	1,931 -54	4,312 -57	2,896 -142	1,064 -81	1,832 -61
2019-20	9,399 260	6,526 283	1,900 -31	4,626 314	2,873 -23	1,022 -42	1,851 19
2020-21	10,859 1,460	7,857 1,331	2,215 315	5,642 1,016	3,002 129	1,023 1	1,979 128
2021-22	12,065 1,206	8,964 1,107	2,507 292	6,457 815	3,101 99	1,016 -7	2,085 106
2022-23	12,886 821	9,809 845	2,758 251	7,051 594	3,077 -24	1,036 20	2,041 -44
2023-24	13,416 530	10,190 381	2,860 102	7,330 279	3,226 149	1,113 77	2,113 72
2024-25	14,890 1,474	11,519 1,329	3,262 402	8,257 927	3,371 145	1,158 45	2,213 100
Average	11,101	8,024	2,362	5,663	3,077	1,100	1,977

Howard University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 8,024 where 11,519 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 Howard University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	6,883	6,412	2,071	4,341	471	171	300
2016-17	5,899	5,575	1,804	3,771	324	151	173
2017-18	6,354	6,090	1,874	4,216	264	111	153
2018-19	6,243	5,991	1,826	4,165	252	105	147
2019-20	6,526	6,269	1,797	4,472	257	103	154
2020-21	7,857	7,497	2,085	5,412	360	130	230
2021-22	8,964	8,419	2,299	6,120	545	208	337
2022-23	9,809	9,022	2,449	6,573	787	309	478
2023-24	10,190	9,361	2,512	6,849	829	348	481
2024-25	11,519	9,885	2,606	7,279	1,634	656	978
Average	8,024	8,024	2,132	5,320	8,024	229	343

Howard University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 3,077 where 3,371 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 Howard University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,119	2,614	1,040	1,574	505	190	315
2016-17	3,067	2,584	987	1,597	483	204	279
2017-18	3,038	2,553	960	1,593	485	185	300
2018-19	2,896	2,509	910	1,599	387	154	233
2019-20	2,873	2,492	874	1,618	381	148	233
2020-21	3,002	2,553	874	1,679	449	149	300
2021-22	3,101	2,637	863	1,774	464	153	311
2022-23	3,077	2,528	885	1,643	549	151	398
2023-24	3,226	2,699	962	1,737	527	151	376
2024-25	3,371	2,827	1,005	1,822	544	153	391
Average	3,077	3,077	936	1,664	3,077	164	314

Howard University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 0.81% and the percentage of black students is 67.49% at Howard University. 1.65% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 6.53% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 3.21% to 0.81%. Asian enrollment declined from 3.19% to 1.65%. Black student enrollment decreased from 85.43% to 67.49%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 0.91% to 6.53%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5380 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.2680 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Howard 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	59	319	8,545	91	18	321	0
2016-17	18	294	7,540	118	18	275	0
2017-18	14	273	7,948	120	23	273	0
2018-19	18	300	7,676	133	38	306	0
2019-20	110	261	6,704	573	20	212	317
2020-21	132	417	7,373	718	28	214	407
2021-22	139	522	8,133	779	22	162	506
2022-23	117	443	8,581	817	18	141	581
2023-24	53	410	9,228	866	14	124	613
2024-25	22	246	10,050	972	6	120	644
Average	68	349	8,178	519	21	215	307

Howard University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

1,482 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 10% of total students. The number of online students has increased 1,729.63% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Howard University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	10,002	81	811	9,110
2016-17	8,966	77	725	8,164
2017-18	9,392	21	677	8,694
2018-19	9,139	29	1,030	8,080
2019-20	9,399	22	1,047	8,330
2020-21	10,859	109	3,456	7,294
2021-22	12,065	185	9,719	2,161
2022-23	12,886	339	9,021	3,526
2023-24	13,416	1,136	8,128	4,152
2024-25	14,890	1,482	7,410	5,998
Average	11,101	348	4,202	6,551

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Enrollment Trends at HU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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