Enrollment Trends at SHU

The student population at Sacred Heart University is 11,022 (7,204 undergraduate and 3,818 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 2,787 (33.84%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at SHU is 65.36% which is increased by 1,999 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 788 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 55 male students for every 100 female students, up from 48 in 2015.
1,311 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 7.90% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 9,544 where 11,022 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 8 year-over-year increases and 1 decrease. It peaked at 11,179 students in 2024 and was lowest at 8,235 in 2016. Overall, enrollment rose from 8,235 to 11,022 students, a net gain of 2,787 (33.8%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	8,235	5,205	1,857	3,348	3,030	803	2,227
2016-17	8,532 297	5,428 223	1,952 95	3,476 128	3,104 74	891 88	2,213 -14
2017-18	8,543 11	5,603 175	2,022 70	3,581 105	2,940 -164	797 -94	2,143 -70
2018-19	8,958 415	5,974 371	2,073 51	3,901 320	2,984 44	764 -33	2,220 77
2019-20	9,156 198	6,158 184	2,068 -5	4,090 189	2,998 14	801 37	2,197 -23
2020-21	9,313 157	6,417 259	2,063 -5	4,354 264	2,896 -102	708 -93	2,188 -9
2021-22	9,785 472	6,761 344	2,201 138	4,560 206	3,024 128	779 71	2,245 57
2022-23	10,721 936	6,782 21	2,245 44	4,537 -23	3,939 915	1,475 696	2,464 219
2023-24	11,179 458	6,960 178	2,481 236	4,479 -58	4,219 280	1,680 205	2,539 75
2024-25	11,022 -157	7,204 244	2,597 116	4,607 128	3,818 -401	1,320 -360	2,498 -41
Average	9,544	6,249	2,156	4,093	3,295	1,002	2,293

Sacred Heart University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 6,249 where 7,204 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 Sacred Heart University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,205	4,435	1,647	2,788	770	210	560
2016-17	5,428	4,794	1,769	3,025	634	183	451
2017-18	5,603	4,982	1,844	3,138	621	178	443
2018-19	5,974	5,130	1,852	3,278	844	221	623
2019-20	6,158	5,348	1,891	3,457	810	177	633
2020-21	6,417	5,671	1,870	3,801	746	193	553
2021-22	6,761	6,071	2,021	4,050	690	180	510
2022-23	6,782	6,277	2,091	4,186	505	154	351
2023-24	6,960	6,532	2,340	4,192	428	141	287
2024-25	7,204	6,781	2,433	4,348	423	164	259
Average	6,249	6,249	1,976	3,626	6,249	180	467

Sacred Heart University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 3,295 where 3,818 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 Sacred Heart University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	3,030	1,076	343	733	1,954	460	1,494
2016-17	3,104	1,159	423	736	1,945	468	1,477
2017-18	2,940	1,086	350	736	1,854	447	1,407
2018-19	2,984	1,195	412	783	1,789	352	1,437
2019-20	2,998	1,291	425	866	1,707	376	1,331
2020-21	2,896	1,213	345	868	1,683	363	1,320
2021-22	3,024	1,380	427	953	1,644	352	1,292
2022-23	3,939	2,396	1,116	1,280	1,543	359	1,184
2023-24	4,219	2,490	1,104	1,386	1,729	576	1,153
2024-25	3,818	1,824	627	1,197	1,994	693	1,301
Average	3,295	3,295	557	954	3,295	445	1,340

Sacred Heart University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 63.52%. The percentage was 68.04% 10 years ago and SHU still has a high percentage of white students. 2.08% of enrolled students is Asian and 4.36% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 12.21% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 68.04% to 63.52%. Asian enrollment declined from 2.31% to 2.08%. Black student enrollment decreased from 4.69% to 4.36%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 7.31% to 12.21%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5788 which indicates that moderately diverse. This increased from 0.5288 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Sacred Heart 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	12	190	386	602	9	5,603	115
2016-17	10	204	414	727	7	5,857	132
2017-18	11	195	434	809	8	6,019	167
2018-19	17	226	482	975	6	6,223	174
2019-20	15	213	490	1,041	8	6,383	200
2020-21	11	196	504	1,115	8	6,584	209
2021-22	8	217	467	1,181	4	6,944	235
2022-23	5	199	442	1,104	3	6,932	223
2023-24	8	217	435	1,162	3	6,918	215
2024-25	7	229	481	1,346	4	7,001	249
Average	10	209	454	1,006	6	6,446	192

Sacred Heart University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

1,311 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 12% of total students. The number of online students has increased 7.90% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Sacred Heart University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	8,235	1,215	1,153	5,867
2016-17	8,532	1,145	1,759	5,628
2017-18	8,543	1,072	1,796	5,675
2018-19	8,958	1,102	1,699	6,157
2019-20	9,156	1,073	2,038	6,045
2020-21	9,313	1,576	4,745	2,992
2021-22	9,785	1,303	2,774	5,708
2022-23	10,721	1,221	3,268	6,232
2023-24	11,179	1,192	4,150	5,837
2024-25	11,022	1,311	3,753	5,958
Average	9,544	1,221	2,714	5,610

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Enrollment Trends at SHU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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