Enrollment Trends at Illinois State

The student population at Illinois State University is 21,546 (19,107 undergraduate and 2,439 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 786 (3.79%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at Illinois State is 88.68% which is increased by 681 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 105 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 72 male students for every 100 female students, down from 79 in 2015.
1,302 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 308.15% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 20,827 where 21,546 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 5 year-over-year increases and 4 decreases. It peaked at 21,546 students in 2025 and was lowest at 20,233 in 2022. Overall, enrollment rose from 20,760 to 21,546 students, a net gain of 786 (3.8%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	20,760	18,426	8,311	10,115	2,334	828	1,506
2016-17	21,039 279	18,643 217	8,316 5	10,327 212	2,396 62	848 20	1,548 42
2017-18	20,784 -255	18,330 -313	8,211 -105	10,119 -208	2,454 58	848	1,606 58
2018-19	20,635 -149	18,107 -223	8,076 -135	10,031 -88	2,528 74	866 18	1,662 56
2019-20	20,878 243	18,250 143	8,141 65	10,109 78	2,628 100	925 59	1,703 41
2020-21	20,720 -158	17,987 -263	7,806 -335	10,181 72	2,733 105	949 24	1,784 81
2021-22	20,233 -487	17,674 -313	7,595 -211	10,079 -102	2,559 -174	897 -52	1,662 -122
2022-23	20,683 450	18,055 381	7,854 259	10,201 122	2,628 69	880 -17	1,748 86
2023-24	20,989 306	18,450 395	8,109 255	10,341 140	2,539 -89	800 -80	1,739 -9
2024-25	21,546 557	19,107 657	8,270 161	10,837 496	2,439 -100	728 -72	1,711 -28
Average	20,827	18,303	8,069	10,234	2,524	857	1,667

Illinois State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 18,303 where 19,107 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 Illinois State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	18,426	17,151	7,687	9,464	1,275	624	651
2016-17	18,643	17,456	7,675	9,781	1,187	641	546
2017-18	18,330	17,165	7,585	9,580	1,165	626	539
2018-19	18,107	16,917	7,466	9,451	1,190	610	580
2019-20	18,250	17,092	7,544	9,548	1,158	597	561
2020-21	17,987	16,666	7,087	9,579	1,321	719	602
2021-22	17,674	16,444	6,972	9,472	1,230	623	607
2022-23	18,055	16,966	7,301	9,665	1,089	553	536
2023-24	18,450	17,416	7,599	9,817	1,034	510	524
2024-25	19,107	18,069	7,764	10,305	1,038	506	532
Average	18,303	18,303	7,468	9,666	18,303	601	568

Illinois State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 2,524 where 2,439 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 Illinois State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,334	1,139	469	670	1,195	359	836
2016-17	2,396	1,238	505	733	1,158	343	815
2017-18	2,454	1,203	462	741	1,251	386	865
2018-19	2,528	1,290	488	802	1,238	378	860
2019-20	2,628	1,375	537	838	1,253	388	865
2020-21	2,733	1,377	563	814	1,356	386	970
2021-22	2,559	1,289	531	758	1,270	366	904
2022-23	2,628	1,406	568	838	1,222	312	910
2023-24	2,539	1,351	512	839	1,188	288	900
2024-25	2,439	1,235	447	788	1,204	281	923
Average	2,524	2,524	508	782	2,524	349	885

Illinois State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 63.35%. The percentage was 76.58% 10 years ago and Illinois State still has a high percentage of white students. 2.60% of enrolled students is Asian and 12.88% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 13.44% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 76.58% to 63.35%. Asian enrollment grew from 2.19% to 2.60%. Black student enrollment increased from 7.40% to 12.88%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 8.89% to 13.44%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5618 which indicates that moderately diverse. This increased from 0.3990 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Illinois State 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	22	455	1,536	1,845	16	15,899	530
2016-17	32	444	1,692	2,006	16	15,828	567
2017-18	32	433	1,706	2,030	21	15,530	576
2018-19	22	434	1,827	2,133	19	14,986	629
2019-20	24	477	1,880	2,260	21	14,865	666
2020-21	21	507	1,968	2,300	14	14,560	683
2021-22	17	500	1,962	2,359	9	14,020	700
2022-23	22	528	2,090	2,495	10	13,905	776
2023-24	17	565	2,308	2,713	6	13,704	796
2024-25	16	560	2,775	2,895	12	13,650	840
Average	23	490	1,974	2,304	14	14,695	676

Illinois State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

1,302 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 6% of total students. The number of online students has increased 308.15% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Illinois State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	20,760	319	2,978	17,463
2016-17	21,039	330	3,665	17,044
2017-18	20,784	432	3,361	16,991
2018-19	20,635	507	3,895	16,233
2019-20	20,878	600	5,106	15,172
2020-21	20,720	14,568	5,246	906
2021-22	20,233	945	7,464	11,824
2022-23	20,683	986	7,452	12,245
2023-24	20,989	1,155	7,135	12,699
2024-25	21,546	1,302	7,853	12,391
Average	20,827	2,114	5,416	13,297

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Enrollment Trends at Illinois State

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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