Enrollment Trends at MWSU

The student population at Missouri Western State University is 3,716 (3,491 undergraduate and 225 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 1,797 (32.60%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at MWSU is 93.95% which is decreased by 1,805 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 8 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 62 male students for every 100 female students, down from 70 in 2015.
328 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has decreased by -2.67% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 4,855 where 3,716 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 5,669 students in 2019 and was lowest at 3,716 in 2025. Overall, enrollment dropped from 5,513 to 3,716 students, a net loss of 1,797 (32.6%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,513	5,296	2,165	3,131	217	103	114
2016-17	5,363 -150	5,120 -176	2,107 -58	3,013 -118	243 26	103	140 26
2017-18	5,533 170	5,292 172	2,175 68	3,117 104	241 -2	89 -14	152 12
2018-19	5,669 136	5,434 142	2,142 -33	3,292 175	235 -6	95 6	140 -12
2019-20	5,608 -61	5,367 -67	2,100 -42	3,267 -25	241 6	90 -5	151 11
2020-21	4,911 -697	4,717 -650	1,774 -326	2,943 -324	194 -47	70 -20	124 -27
2021-22	4,395 -516	4,219 -498	1,584 -190	2,635 -308	176 -18	56 -14	120 -4
2022-23	4,023 -372	3,841 -378	1,470 -114	2,371 -264	182 6	69 13	113 -7
2023-24	3,817 -206	3,604 -237	1,396 -74	2,208 -163	213 31	77 8	136 23
2024-25	3,716 -101	3,491 -113	1,361 -35	2,130 -78	225 12	67 -10	158 22
Average	4,855	4,638	1,827	2,811	217	82	135

Missouri Western State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 4,638 where 3,491 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 Missouri Western State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,296	3,631	1,497	2,134	1,665	668	997
2016-17	5,120	3,439	1,402	2,037	1,681	705	976
2017-18	5,292	3,498	1,418	2,080	1,794	757	1,037
2018-19	5,434	3,592	1,433	2,159	1,842	709	1,133
2019-20	5,367	3,382	1,320	2,062	1,985	780	1,205
2020-21	4,717	3,039	1,184	1,855	1,678	590	1,088
2021-22	4,219	2,579	993	1,586	1,640	591	1,049
2022-23	3,841	2,337	951	1,386	1,504	519	985
2023-24	3,604	2,132	849	1,283	1,472	547	925
2024-25	3,491	2,010	822	1,188	1,481	539	942
Average	4,638	4,638	1,187	1,777	4,638	641	1,034

Missouri Western State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 217 where 225 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 Missouri Western State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	217	67	48	19	150	55	95
2016-17	243	93	55	38	150	48	102
2017-18	241	82	36	46	159	53	106
2018-19	235	81	49	32	154	46	108
2019-20	241	67	33	34	174	57	117
2020-21	194	67	34	33	127	36	91
2021-22	176	59	22	37	117	34	83
2022-23	182	14	6	8	168	63	105
2023-24	213	66	28	38	147	49	98
2024-25	225	86	30	56	139	37	102
Average	217	217	34	34	217	48	101

Missouri Western State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 67.09%. The percentage was 80.57% 10 years ago and MWSU still has a high percentage of white students. 1.78% of enrolled students is Asian and 10.17% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 0.86% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 80.57% to 67.09%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.36% to 1.78%. Black student enrollment increased from 8.78% to 10.17%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 0.80% to 0.86%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5300 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.3420 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Missouri Western 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	17	75	484	44	9	4,442	162
2016-17	21	71	450	60	10	4,286	179
2017-18	25	77	489	101	11	4,341	198
2018-19	27	94	492	137	11	4,371	224
2019-20	31	86	530	152	10	4,284	347
2020-21	32	83	446	136	13	3,648	329
2021-22	26	92	457	88	14	3,193	331
2022-23	51	85	434	50	6	2,758	335
2023-24	59	71	409	42	11	2,623	314
2024-25	65	66	378	32	7	2,493	350
Average	35	80	457	84	10	3,644	277

Missouri Western State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

328 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 9% of total students. The number of online students has decreased -2.67% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Missouri Western State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	5,513	337	1,375	3,801
2016-17	5,363	459	1,440	3,464
2017-18	5,533	305	1,642	3,586
2018-19	5,669	343	1,682	3,644
2019-20	5,608	416	1,715	3,477
2020-21	4,911	567	2,741	1,603
2021-22	4,395	346	1,944	2,105
2022-23	4,023	353	1,791	1,879
2023-24	3,817	319	1,608	1,890
2024-25	3,716	328	1,585	1,803
Average	4,855	377	1,752	2,725

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Enrollment Trends at MWSU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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