Enrollment Trends at North Carolina Wesleyan

The student population at North Carolina Wesleyan University is 1,419 (1,262 undergraduate and 157 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 700 (33.03%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at North Carolina Wesleyan is 88.94% which is decreased by 857 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 157 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 82 male students for every 100 female students, up from 69 in 2015.
492 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 320.51% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 1,757 where 1,419 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 3 year-over-year increases and 6 decreases. It peaked at 2,119 students in 2016 and was lowest at 1,337 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 2,119 to 1,419 students, a net loss of 700 (33%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,119	2,119	864	1,255	0	0	0
2016-17	2,086 -33	2,086 -33	852 -12	1,234 -21	0	0	0
2017-18	2,093 7	2,093 7	871 19	1,222 -12	0	0	0
2018-19	2,034 -59	2,007 -86	877 6	1,130 -92	27 27	15 15	12 12
2019-20	1,886 -148	1,822 -185	772 -105	1,050 -80	64 37	25 10	39 27
2020-21	1,720 -166	1,603 -219	713 -59	890 -160	117 53	38 13	79 40
2021-22	1,531 -189	1,424 -179	678 -35	746 -144	107 -10	25 -13	82 3
2022-23	1,337 -194	1,249 -175	632 -46	617 -129	88 -19	27 2	61 -21
2023-24	1,345 8	1,212 -37	590 -42	622 5	133 45	43 16	90 29
2024-25	1,419 74	1,262 50	586 -4	676 54	157 24	55 12	102 12
Average	1,757	1,688	744	944	69	23	47

North Carolina Wesleyan University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 1,688 where 1,262 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 North Carolina Wesleyan University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,119	1,726	752	974	393	112	281
2016-17	2,086	1,785	758	1,027	301	94	207
2017-18	2,093	1,754	762	992	339	109	230
2018-19	2,007	1,677	778	899	330	99	231
2019-20	1,822	1,600	705	895	222	67	155
2020-21	1,603	1,375	650	725	228	63	165
2021-22	1,424	1,196	610	586	228	68	160
2022-23	1,249	1,040	559	481	209	73	136
2023-24	1,212	1,036	537	499	176	53	123
2024-25	1,262	1,040	518	522	222	68	154
Average	1,688	1,688	663	760	1,688	81	184

North Carolina Wesleyan University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 69 where 157 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 North Carolina Wesleyan University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2016-17	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2017-18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2018-19	27	19	12	7	8	3	5
2019-20	64	43	20	23	21	5	16
2020-21	117	95	32	63	22	6	16
2021-22	107	78	17	61	29	8	21
2022-23	88	61	19	42	27	8	19
2023-24	133	99	32	67	34	11	23
2024-25	157	99	36	63	58	19	39
Average	69	69	17	33	69	6	14

North Carolina Wesleyan University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 20.51% and the percentage of black students is 37.14% at North Carolina Wesleyan University. 0.49% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 2.68% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 31.76% to 20.51%. Asian enrollment declined from 0.76% to 0.49%. Black student enrollment decreased from 46.48% to 37.14%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.36% to 2.68%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.8175 which indicates that highly diverse. This increased from 0.6819 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at North Carolina Wesleyan 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	18	16	985	50	1	673	45
2016-17	26	17	914	51	2	677	44
2017-18	24	14	886	71	1	671	55
2018-19	23	13	859	68	0	600	60
2019-20	21	16	789	81	1	534	64
2020-21	22	6	736	54	1	499	67
2021-22	22	7	660	42	2	402	57
2022-23	18	6	537	41	2	366	61
2023-24	15	7	575	40	2	326	57
2024-25	14	7	527	38	2	291	58
Average	20	11	747	54	1	504	57

North Carolina Wesleyan University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

492 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 35% of total students. The number of online students has increased 320.51% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at North Carolina Wesleyan University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	2,119	117	496	1,506
2016-17	2,086	141	586	1,359
2017-18	2,093	11	451	1,631
2018-19	2,034	165	560	1,309
2019-20	1,886	162	502	1,222
2020-21	1,720	352	395	973
2021-22	1,531	309	372	850
2022-23	1,337	341	232	764
2023-24	1,345	423	228	694
2024-25	1,419	492	233	694
Average	1,757	251	406	1,100

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Enrollment Trends at North Carolina Wesleyan

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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