Enrollment Trends at NSU

The student population at Norfolk State University is 6,053 (5,410 undergraduate and 643 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 946 (18.52%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at NSU is 89.38% which is increased by 888 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 58 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 49 male students for every 100 female students, down from 55 in 2015.
693 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 276.63% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 5,543 where 6,053 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 6 year-over-year increases and 3 decreases. It peaked at 6,053 students in 2025 and was lowest at 5,107 in 2016. Overall, enrollment rose from 5,107 to 6,053 students, a net gain of 946 (18.5%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,107	4,522	1,665	2,857	585	157	428
2016-17	5,421 314	4,739 217	1,698 33	3,041 184	682 97	197 40	485 57
2017-18	5,303 -118	4,687 -52	1,642 -56	3,045 4	616 -66	188 -9	428 -57
2018-19	5,204 -99	4,660 -27	1,618 -24	3,042 -3	544 -72	179 -9	365 -63
2019-20	5,601 397	5,112 452	1,708 90	3,404 362	489 -55	192 13	297 -68
2020-21	5,457 -144	4,992 -120	1,604 -104	3,388 -16	465 -24	163 -29	302 5
2021-22	5,458 1	5,016 24	1,622 18	3,394 6	442 -23	162 -1	280 -22
2022-23	5,783 325	5,337 321	1,740 118	3,597 203	446 4	180 18	266 -14
2023-24	6,045 262	5,510 173	1,823 83	3,687 90	535 89	211 31	324 58
2024-25	6,053 8	5,410 -100	1,759 -64	3,651 -36	643 108	223 12	420 96
Average	5,543	4,999	1,688	3,311	545	185	360

Norfolk State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 4,999 where 5,410 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 Norfolk State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	4,522	3,739	1,451	2,288	783	214	569
2016-17	4,739	4,002	1,494	2,508	737	204	533
2017-18	4,687	4,011	1,478	2,533	676	164	512
2018-19	4,660	4,133	1,462	2,671	527	156	371
2019-20	5,112	4,583	1,572	3,011	529	136	393
2020-21	4,992	4,529	1,478	3,051	463	126	337
2021-22	5,016	4,520	1,478	3,042	496	144	352
2022-23	5,337	4,618	1,524	3,094	719	216	503
2023-24	5,510	4,899	1,645	3,254	611	178	433
2024-25	5,410	4,970	1,636	3,334	440	123	317
Average	4,999	4,999	1,522	2,879	4,999	166	432

Norfolk State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 545 where 643 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 Norfolk State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	585	385	96	289	200	61	139
2016-17	682	443	114	329	239	83	156
2017-18	616	431	127	304	185	61	124
2018-19	544	374	109	265	170	70	100
2019-20	489	353	135	218	136	57	79
2020-21	465	317	97	220	148	66	82
2021-22	442	307	102	205	135	60	75
2022-23	446	276	93	183	170	87	83
2023-24	535	353	129	224	182	82	100
2024-25	643	432	128	304	211	95	116
Average	545	545	113	254	545	72	105

Norfolk State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 2.15% and the percentage of black students is 79.13% at Norfolk State University. 0.35% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 4.64% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 5.13% to 2.15%. Asian enrollment declined from 0.70% to 0.35%. Black student enrollment decreased from 82.98% to 79.13%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.72% to 4.64%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.3682 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.3063 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Norfolk 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	10	36	4,238	139	7	262	207
2016-17	10	39	4,540	175	5	260	215
2017-18	10	39	4,446	182	6	235	235
2018-19	9	42	4,372	185	3	197	262
2019-20	6	35	4,678	207	3	178	322
2020-21	5	27	4,517	240	3	164	333
2021-22	6	26	4,544	256	4	155	299
2022-23	13	20	4,841	268	4	145	328
2023-24	8	18	5,011	302	0	145	350
2024-25	11	21	4,790	281	2	130	327
Average	9	30	4,598	224	4	187	288

Norfolk State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

693 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 11% of total students. The number of online students has increased 276.63% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Norfolk State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	5,107	184	2,147	2,776
2016-17	5,421	243	2,157	3,021
2017-18	5,303	280	2,411	2,612
2018-19	5,204	242	2,991	1,971
2019-20	5,601	310	3,360	1,931
2020-21	5,457	338	4,399	720
2021-22	5,458	615	4,707	136
2022-23	5,783	682	4,921	180
2023-24	6,045	785	4,958	302
2024-25	6,053	693	4,753	607
Average	5,543	437	3,680	1,426

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Enrollment Trends at NSU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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