Enrollment Trends at NSU

The student population at Northern State University is 3,708 (3,169 undergraduate and 539 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 259 (7.51%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at NSU is 85.46% which is increased by 178 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 81 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 62 male students for every 100 female students, down from 67 in 2015.
1,636 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 34.54% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 3,491 where 3,708 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 3,708 students in 2025 and was lowest at 3,340 in 2022. Overall, enrollment rose from 3,449 to 3,708 students, a net gain of 259 (7.5%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,449	2,991	1,274	1,717	458	111	347
2016-17	3,587 138	3,075 84	1,326 52	1,749 32	512 54	127 16	385 38
2017-18	3,611 24	3,162 87	1,346 20	1,816 67	449 -63	110 -17	339 -46
2018-19	3,493 -118	3,051 -111	1,268 -78	1,783 -33	442 -7	98 -12	344 5
2019-20	3,427 -66	3,008 -43	1,273 5	1,735 -48	419 -23	100 2	319 -25
2020-21	3,431 4	2,968 -40	1,177 -96	1,791 56	463 44	130 30	333 14
2021-22	3,340 -91	2,867 -101	1,163 -14	1,704 -87	473 10	126 -4	347 14
2022-23	3,344 4	2,851 -16	1,113 -50	1,738 34	493 20	115 -11	378 31
2023-24	3,521 177	2,932 81	1,173 60	1,759 21	589 96	147 32	442 64
2024-25	3,708 187	3,169 237	1,267 94	1,902 143	539 -50	158 11	381 -61
Average	3,491	3,007	1,238	1,769	484	122	362

Northern State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 3,007 where 3,169 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 State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,991	1,372	617	755	1,619	657	962
2016-17	3,075	1,402	608	794	1,673	718	955
2017-18	3,162	1,346	596	750	1,816	750	1,066
2018-19	3,051	1,333	578	755	1,718	690	1,028
2019-20	3,008	1,265	552	713	1,743	721	1,022
2020-21	2,968	1,149	495	654	1,819	682	1,137
2021-22	2,867	1,136	484	652	1,731	679	1,052
2022-23	2,851	1,057	453	604	1,794	660	1,134
2023-24	2,932	1,033	455	578	1,899	718	1,181
2024-25	3,169	1,120	498	622	2,049	769	1,280
Average	3,007	3,007	534	688	3,007	704	1,082

Northern State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 484 where 539 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 State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	458	57	23	34	401	88	313
2016-17	512	41	20	21	471	107	364
2017-18	449	34	13	21	415	97	318
2018-19	442	50	19	31	392	79	313
2019-20	419	38	15	23	381	85	296
2020-21	463	53	30	23	410	100	310
2021-22	473	57	32	25	416	94	322
2022-23	493	59	30	29	434	85	349
2023-24	589	70	34	36	519	113	406
2024-25	539	67	28	39	472	130	342
Average	484	484	24	28	484	98	333

Northern State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 82.66%. The percentage was 84.98% 10 years ago and NSU still has a high percentage of white students. 1.46% of enrolled students is Asian and 2.02% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 3.96% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 84.98% to 82.66%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.19% to 1.46%. Black student enrollment increased from 1.33% to 2.02%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.52% to 3.96%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.3134 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.2763 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Northern 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	53	41	46	87	6	2,931	65
2016-17	53	26	38	85	3	3,028	82
2017-18	56	45	48	88	3	3,081	82
2018-19	56	44	57	99	4	2,949	86
2019-20	47	44	53	77	4	2,887	107
2020-21	60	52	60	101	4	2,950	97
2021-22	51	48	54	117	3	2,857	91
2022-23	65	62	68	99	5	2,859	79
2023-24	48	52	79	135	2	3,008	85
2024-25	64	54	75	147	5	3,065	107
Average	55	47	58	104	4	2,962	88

Northern State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

1,636 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 44% of total students. The number of online students has increased 34.54% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Northern State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	3,449	1,216	454	1,779
2016-17	3,587	2,057	512	1,018
2017-18	3,611	1,504	467	1,640
2018-19	3,493	1,448	470	1,575
2019-20	3,427	1,467	491	1,469
2020-21	3,431	1,545	804	1,082
2021-22	3,340	1,439	617	1,284
2022-23	3,344	1,475	624	1,245
2023-24	3,521	1,609	707	1,205
2024-25	3,708	1,636	735	1,337
Average	3,491	1,540	588	1,363

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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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