Enrollment Trends at NAU

The student population at Northern Arizona University is 28,467 (22,990 undergraduate and 5,477 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 554 (1.91%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at NAU is 80.76% which is decreased by 2,125 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 1,571 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 60 male students for every 100 female students, down from 67 in 2015.
5,237 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has decreased by -11.73% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Trends by Subject

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 29,525 where 28,467 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 31,066 students in 2019 and was lowest at 28,086 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 29,021 to 28,467 students, a net loss of 554 (1.9%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	29,021	25,115	10,328	14,787	3,906	1,289	2,617
2016-17	30,361 1,340	26,500 1,385	10,805 477	15,695 908	3,861 -45	1,209 -80	2,652 35
2017-18	31,051 690	27,084 584	10,845 40	16,239 544	3,967 106	1,217 8	2,750 98
2018-19	31,066 15	27,072 -12	10,587 -258	16,485 246	3,994 27	1,225 8	2,769 19
2019-20	30,733 -333	26,511 -561	10,208 -379	16,303 -182	4,222 228	1,327 102	2,895 126
2020-21	29,566 -1,167	25,228 -1,283	9,401 -807	15,827 -476	4,338 116	1,315 -12	3,023 128
2021-22	28,711 -855	24,162 -1,066	8,950 -451	15,212 -615	4,549 211	1,462 147	3,087 64
2022-23	28,086 -625	23,204 -958	8,550 -400	14,654 -558	4,882 333	1,724 262	3,158 71
2023-24	28,186 100	23,128 -76	8,452 -98	14,676 22	5,058 176	1,831 107	3,227 69
2024-25	28,467 281	22,990 -138	8,500 48	14,490 -186	5,477 419	2,125 294	3,352 125
Average	29,525	25,099	9,663	15,437	4,425	1,472	2,953

Northern Arizona University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 25,099 where 22,990 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 Northern Arizona University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	25,115	20,357	8,485	11,872	4,758	1,843	2,915
2016-17	26,500	21,494	8,892	12,602	5,006	1,913	3,093
2017-18	27,084	21,990	8,935	13,055	5,094	1,910	3,184
2018-19	27,072	21,891	8,499	13,392	5,181	2,088	3,093
2019-20	26,511	21,731	8,283	13,448	4,780	1,925	2,855
2020-21	25,228	20,642	7,615	13,027	4,586	1,786	2,800
2021-22	24,162	19,918	7,314	12,604	4,244	1,636	2,608
2022-23	23,204	20,011	7,504	12,507	3,193	1,046	2,147
2023-24	23,128	20,092	7,502	12,590	3,036	950	2,086
2024-25	22,990	20,044	7,624	12,420	2,946	876	2,070
Average	25,099	25,099	8,065	12,752	25,099	1,597	2,685

Northern Arizona University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 4,425 where 5,477 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 Northern Arizona University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,906	1,863	657	1,206	2,043	632	1,411
2016-17	3,861	1,852	633	1,219	2,009	576	1,433
2017-18	3,967	1,909	651	1,258	2,058	566	1,492
2018-19	3,994	1,962	697	1,265	2,032	528	1,504
2019-20	4,222	2,172	755	1,417	2,050	572	1,478
2020-21	4,338	2,228	725	1,503	2,110	590	1,520
2021-22	4,549	2,425	822	1,603	2,124	640	1,484
2022-23	4,882	2,724	1,009	1,715	2,158	715	1,443
2023-24	5,058	2,963	1,109	1,854	2,095	722	1,373
2024-25	5,477	3,337	1,354	1,983	2,140	771	1,369
Average	4,425	4,425	841	1,502	4,425	631	1,451

Northern Arizona University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 50.06%. The percentage was 60.77% 10 years ago and NAU still has a high percentage of white students. 4.08% of enrolled students is Asian and 3.03% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 24.99% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 60.77% to 50.06%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.81% to 4.08%. Black student enrollment decreased from 3.26% to 3.03%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 20.75% to 24.99%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.6800 which indicates that moderately diverse. This increased from 0.5828 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Northern Arizona 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	866	526	946	6,023	73	17,636	1,470
2016-17	825	582	1,007	6,635	79	17,975	1,625
2017-18	839	611	1,067	7,102	78	17,952	1,685
2018-19	849	629	1,070	7,235	74	17,448	1,665
2019-20	878	669	1,019	7,395	86	16,939	1,660
2020-21	892	631	985	7,377	67	16,260	1,582
2021-22	849	619	899	7,047	69	15,949	1,521
2022-23	841	825	833	6,960	68	15,348	1,505
2023-24	997	1,013	836	6,962	59	14,896	1,464
2024-25	1,109	1,161	863	7,113	54	14,252	1,497
Average	895	727	953	6,985	71	16,466	1,567

Northern Arizona University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

5,237 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 18% of total students. The number of online students has decreased -11.73% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Northern Arizona University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	29,021	5,933	5,836	17,252
2016-17	30,361	6,402	6,504	17,455
2017-18	31,051	6,594	6,500	17,957
2018-19	31,066	6,304	7,024	17,738
2019-20	30,733	6,183	7,915	16,635
2020-21	29,566	6,363	10,977	12,226
2021-22	28,711	6,208	9,603	12,900
2022-23	28,086	5,570	9,723	12,793
2023-24	28,186	5,088	9,552	13,546
2024-25	28,467	5,237	9,552	13,678
Average	29,525	5,988	8,319	15,218

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