Enrollment Trends at PLU

The student population at Pacific Lutheran University is 2,797 (2,446 undergraduate and 351 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 373 (11.77%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at PLU is 87.45% which is decreased by 414 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 41 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 54 male students for every 100 female students, down from 61 in 2015.
11 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has decreased by -99.17% since 2015. (Note: The high increase/decrease may be due to the pandemic)

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 2,941 where 2,797 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 4 year-over-year increases and 5 decreases. It peaked at 3,207 students in 2019 and was lowest at 2,633 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 3,170 to 2,797 students, a net loss of 373 (11.8%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,170	2,860	1,089	1,771	310	106	204
2016-17	3,072 -98	2,783 -77	1,034 -55	1,749 -22	289 -21	93 -13	196 -8
2017-18	3,122 50	2,766 -17	1,019 -15	1,747 -2	356 67	102 9	254 58
2018-19	3,207 85	2,836 70	1,015 -4	1,821 74	371 15	103 1	268 14
2019-20	3,062 -145	2,695 -141	981 -34	1,714 -107	367 -4	98 -5	269 1
2020-21	2,907 -155	2,544 -151	919 -62	1,625 -89	363 -4	99 1	264 -5
2021-22	2,706 -201	2,373 -171	860 -59	1,513 -112	333 -30	92 -7	241 -23
2022-23	2,633 -73	2,301 -72	854 -6	1,447 -66	332 -1	88 -4	244 3
2023-24	2,737 104	2,393 92	875 21	1,518 71	344 12	98 10	246 2
2024-25	2,797 60	2,446 53	886 11	1,560 42	351 7	93 -5	258 12
Average	2,941	2,600	953	1,647	342	97	244

Pacific Lutheran University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 2,600 where 2,446 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 Pacific Lutheran University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,860	2,774	1,045	1,729	86	44	42
2016-17	2,783	2,704	991	1,713	79	43	36
2017-18	2,766	2,655	967	1,688	111	52	59
2018-19	2,836	2,730	975	1,755	106	40	66
2019-20	2,695	2,627	954	1,673	68	27	41
2020-21	2,544	2,486	884	1,602	58	35	23
2021-22	2,373	2,279	812	1,467	94	48	46
2022-23	2,301	2,192	800	1,392	109	54	55
2023-24	2,393	2,308	829	1,479	85	46	39
2024-25	2,446	2,359	842	1,517	87	44	43
Average	2,600	2,600	910	1,602	2,600	43	45

Pacific Lutheran University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 342 where 351 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 Pacific Lutheran University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	310	186	63	123	124	43	81
2016-17	289	202	66	136	87	27	60
2017-18	356	254	69	185	102	33	69
2018-19	371	262	75	187	109	28	81
2019-20	367	241	72	169	126	26	100
2020-21	363	259	73	186	104	26	78
2021-22	333	228	60	168	105	32	73
2022-23	332	227	63	164	105	25	80
2023-24	344	230	60	170	114	38	76
2024-25	351	236	58	178	115	35	80
Average	342	342	66	167	342	31	78

Pacific Lutheran University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 45.94% and the percentage of black students is 5.61% at Pacific Lutheran University. 10.55% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 18.27% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 66.81% to 45.94%. Asian enrollment grew from 7.79% to 10.55%. Black student enrollment increased from 2.65% to 5.61%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 7.79% to 18.27%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.7287 which indicates that quite diverse. This increased from 0.5358 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Pacific Lutheran 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	29	247	84	247	31	2,118	219
2016-17	24	284	101	259	31	2,002	223
2017-18	18	303	112	278	31	1,944	249
2018-19	17	311	132	364	33	1,867	294
2019-20	14	315	115	368	39	1,749	314
2020-21	6	310	119	379	37	1,651	305
2021-22	12	296	96	408	41	1,475	295
2022-23	19	294	111	439	49	1,351	269
2023-24	22	305	137	487	61	1,295	295
2024-25	18	295	157	511	64	1,285	306
Average	18	296	116	374	42	1,674	277

Pacific Lutheran University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

11 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 0% of total students. The number of online students has decreased -99.17% since 2020. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Pacific Lutheran University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	3,170	0	0	3,170
2016-17	3,072	0	0	3,072
2017-18	3,122	0	0	3,122
2018-19	3,207	0	0	3,207
2019-20	3,062	0	0	3,062
2020-21	2,907	1,319	1,536	52
2021-22	2,706	61	67	2,578
2022-23	2,633	39	85	2,509
2023-24	2,737	52	169	2,516
2024-25	2,797	11	254	2,532
Average	2,941	148	211	2,582

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Enrollment Trends at PLU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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