Enrollment Trends at MCLA

The student population at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is 896 (794 undergraduate and 102 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 745 (45.40%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at MCLA is 88.62% which is decreased by 663 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 82 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 77 male students for every 100 female students, up from 58 in 2015.
90 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 2,900.00% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 1,280 where 896 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 2 year-over-year increases and 7 decreases. It peaked at 1,644 students in 2017 and was lowest at 896 in 2025. Overall, enrollment dropped from 1,641 to 896 students, a net loss of 745 (45.4%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,641	1,457	538	919	184	63	121
2016-17	1,644 3	1,444 -13	541 3	903 -16	200 16	73 10	127 6
2017-18	1,588 -56	1,407 -37	538 -3	869 -34	181 -19	71 -2	110 -17
2018-19	1,452 -136	1,277 -130	485 -53	792 -77	175 -6	52 -19	123 13
2019-20	1,507 55	1,345 68	513 28	832 40	162 -13	45 -7	117 -6
2020-21	1,202 -305	1,076 -269	405 -108	671 -161	126 -36	40 -5	86 -31
2021-22	994 -208	870 -206	341 -64	529 -142	124 -2	41 1	83 -3
2022-23	938 -56	838 -32	356 15	482 -47	100 -24	34 -7	66 -17
2023-24	933 -5	836 -2	371 15	465 -17	97 -3	31 -3	66
2024-25	896 -37	794 -42	354 -17	440 -25	102 5	35 4	67 1
Average	1,280	1,134	444	690	145	49	97

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 1,134 where 794 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 Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,457	1,280	484	796	177	54	123
2016-17	1,444	1,256	489	767	188	52	136
2017-18	1,407	1,201	466	735	206	72	134
2018-19	1,277	1,109	430	679	168	55	113
2019-20	1,345	1,145	449	696	200	64	136
2020-21	1,076	931	360	571	145	45	100
2021-22	870	759	309	450	111	32	79
2022-23	838	682	305	377	156	51	105
2023-24	836	675	312	363	161	59	102
2024-25	794	657	302	355	137	52	85
Average	1,134	1,134	391	579	1,134	54	111

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 145 where 102 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 Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	184	14	2	12	170	61	109
2016-17	200	14	4	10	186	69	117
2017-18	181	18	7	11	163	64	99
2018-19	175	12	3	9	163	49	114
2019-20	162	14	4	10	148	41	107
2020-21	126	49	17	32	77	23	54
2021-22	124	64	19	45	60	22	38
2022-23	100	53	18	35	47	16	31
2023-24	97	42	11	31	55	20	35
2024-25	102	42	15	27	60	20	40
Average	145	145	10	22	145	39	74

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 71.65%. The percentage was 73.61% 10 years ago and MCLA still has a high percentage of white students. 1.34% of enrolled students is Asian and 7.48% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 6.58% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 73.61% to 71.65%. Asian enrollment declined from 1.95% to 1.34%. Black student enrollment decreased from 8.53% to 7.48%. Hispanic student representation contracted from 7.01% to 6.58%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.4742 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.4448 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 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	8	32	140	115	0	1,208	44
2016-17	8	34	139	106	0	1,223	36
2017-18	5	32	122	126	2	1,186	44
2018-19	4	32	112	133	1	1,058	40
2019-20	2	27	141	140	1	1,076	41
2020-21	1	13	91	124	2	864	29
2021-22	4	13	78	103	2	708	39
2022-23	3	24	86	95	2	642	37
2023-24	2	16	77	80	3	674	34
2024-25	3	12	67	59	1	642	43
Average	4	24	105	108	1	928	39

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

90 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 2,900.00% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	1,641	3	133	1,505
2016-17	1,644	2	114	1,528
2017-18	1,588	123	360	1,105
2018-19	1,452	100	244	1,108
2019-20	1,507	103	246	1,158
2020-21	1,202	80	877	245
2021-22	994	40	270	684
2022-23	938	78	205	655
2023-24	933	37	269	627
2024-25	896	90	298	508
Average	1,280	66	302	912

Most Searched Massachusetts Colleges (last 30 days)

Undergraduate

Harvard University Private, 4-year | Cambridge
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Private, 4-year | Cambridge
University of Massachusetts-Amherst Public, 4-year | Amherst
Northeastern University Private, 4-year | Boston
Boston College Private, 4-year | Chestnut Hill
Boston University Private, 4-year | Boston
Tufts University Private, 4-year | Medford
Berklee College of Music Private, 4-year | Boston
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Private, 4-year | Worcester
University of Massachusetts-Lowell Public, 4-year | Lowell

compare schools

Graduate

Boston University Private, 4-year | Boston
University of Massachusetts-Amherst Public, 4-year | Amherst
Harvard University Private, 4-year | Cambridge
Boston College Private, 4-year | Chestnut Hill
Salem State University Public, 4-year | Salem
Boston Architectural College Private, 4-year | Boston
Fitchburg State University Public, 4-year | Fitchburg
Suffolk University Private, 4-year | Boston
University of Massachusetts-Lowell Public, 4-year | Lowell
Lesley University Private, 4-year | Cambridge

compare schools

Online Schools

Harvard University Private, 4-year | Cambridge
Quinsigamond Community College Public, 2-4 year | Worcester
Nichols College Private, 4-year | Dudley
Fitchburg State University Public, 4-year | Fitchburg
Fisher College Private, 4-year | Boston
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Private, 4-year | Cambridge
Massachusetts Bay Community College Public, 2-4 year | Wellesley Hills
Mount Wachusett Community College Public, 2-4 year | Gardner
Simmons University Private, 4-year | Boston
Boston Architectural College Private, 4-year | Boston

compare schools

Trade Schools

Holyoke Community College Public, 2-4 year | Holyoke
National Aviation Academy of New England Private, 2-4 year | Concord
Southeastern Technical Institute Public, Less than 2-year | South Easton
Spa Tech Institute-Westboro Private, Less than 2-year | Westborough
Clark University Private, 4-year | Worcester
Northern Essex Community College Public, 2-4 year | Haverhill
New England Hair Academy Private, Less than 2-year | Malden
DiGrigoli School of Cosmetology Private, Less than 2-year | West Springfield
Jupiter Beauty Academy Private, Less than 2-year | Boston
Western New England University Private, 4-year | Springfield

compare schools

Enrollment Trends at MCLA

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

Ratings & Review