Enrollment Trends for Michigan Colleges

Michigan Colleges Enrollment Trends Summary (2015-2025)

Overall Population Change:
- Total Enrollment: 348,749 students were enrolled in Michigan colleges.
- 10-Year Change: The total student population decreased by -16% compared to a decade ago.
Student Level Trends:
- Undergraduate Growth: Undergraduate enrollment saw a decrease of -17.01% compared to a decade ago.
- Graduate Growth: Graduate enrollment saw a decrease of -9.79% compared to a decade ago.
Gender Dynamics:
- Current Ratio: There are more women students than men, with a ratio of 1.26 women to 1 man.
- Women Enrollment: Women students total 194,255 and have decreased by -12.58% compared to a decade ago.
- Men Enrollment: Men students total 154,494 and have decreased by -19.07% compared to a decade ago.
Online Education Growth:
- Online Exclusively: 48,955 students (14.04%) are enrolled exclusively in online programs.
- Online Growth: The number of students enrolled completely online has seen a dramatic increase of 66% since 2015.

Student Population Changes

The average number of students over the past 11 years is 383,149, and 348,749 students were attending the schools in the academic year 2024-2025.

Of the total students, 78.58% are undergraduate students and 21.43% are graduate students. Over the past 11, the number of undergraduate students decreased by 61,463, and the graduate student enrollment decreased by 7,986.

The women to men ratio is 1.25 to 1, meaning that there are slightly more women students enrolled in Michigan Colleges than men students.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Michigan Colleges since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2014-15	413,117	331,501	153,405	178,096	81,616	37,492	44,124
2015-16	432,369 19,252	349,951 18,450	159,051 5,646	190,900 12,804	82,418 802	38,265 773	44,153 29
2016-17	422,856 -9,513	341,405 -8,546	155,939 -3,112	185,466 -5,434	81,451 -967	37,545 -720	43,906 -247
2017-18	405,240 -17,616	325,056 -16,349	149,498 -6,441	175,558 -9,908	80,184 -1,267	36,519 -1,026	43,665 -241
2018-19	396,251 -8,989	317,031 -8,025	145,591 -3,907	171,440 -4,118	79,220 -964	35,359 -1,160	43,861 196
2019-20	384,494 -11,757	306,901 -10,130	139,664 -5,927	167,237 -4,203	77,593 -1,627	34,097 -1,262	43,496 -365
2020-21	367,151 -17,343	291,822 -15,079	130,587 -9,077	161,235 -6,002	75,329 -2,264	32,388 -1,709	42,941 -555
2021-22	355,901 -11,250	282,019 -9,803	125,784 -4,803	156,235 -5,000	73,882 -1,447	31,823 -565	42,059 -882
2022-23	343,227 -12,674	270,376 -11,643	121,517 -4,267	148,859 -7,376	72,851 -1,031	31,590 -233	41,261 -798
2023-24	345,280 2,053	272,479 2,103	122,714 1,197	149,765 906	72,801 -50	31,578 -12	41,223 -38
2024-25	348,749 3,469	275,124 2,645	122,938 224	152,186 2,421	73,625 824	31,556 -22	42,069 846
Average	383,149	305,788	138,790	166,998	77,361	34,383	42,978

Michigan Colleges Student Population Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the past 11 years is 305,788. Compared 11 years ago, the number of Undergraduate students decreased by 56,377 from 331,501 to 275,124.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Michigan Colleges since 2015.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2014-15	331,501	246,839	116,605	130,234	84,662	36,800	47,862
2015-16	349,951	254,621	119,101	135,520	95,330	39,950	55,380
2016-17	341,405	251,536	117,554	133,982	89,869	38,385	51,484
2017-18	325,056	243,772	114,577	129,195	81,284	34,921	46,363
2018-19	317,031	240,731	112,380	128,351	76,300	33,211	43,089
2019-20	306,901	234,719	108,831	125,888	72,182	30,833	41,349
2020-21	291,822	223,783	101,804	121,979	68,039	28,783	39,256
2021-22	282,019	215,601	97,979	117,622	66,418	27,805	38,613
2022-23	270,376	210,429	96,031	114,398	59,947	25,486	34,461
2023-24	272,479	212,964	97,189	115,775	59,515	25,525	33,990
2024-25	275,124	218,009	99,023	118,986	57,115	23,915	33,200
Average	305,788	305,788	107,370	124,721	305,788	31,419	42,277

Michigan Colleges Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the past 11 years is 77,361. Compared 11 years ago, the number of Graduate students decreased by 7,991 from 81,616 to 73,625.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Michigan Colleges since 2015.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2014-15	81,616	43,506	21,156	22,350	38,110	16,336	21,774
2015-16	82,418	44,608	21,788	22,820	37,810	16,477	21,333
2016-17	81,451	45,474	21,827	23,647	35,977	15,718	20,259
2017-18	80,184	45,365	21,357	24,008	34,819	15,162	19,657
2018-19	79,220	45,922	20,946	24,976	33,298	14,413	18,885
2019-20	77,593	45,470	20,239	25,231	32,123	13,858	18,265
2020-21	75,329	45,394	19,699	25,695	29,935	12,689	17,246
2021-22	73,882	45,275	19,580	25,695	28,607	12,243	16,364
2022-23	72,851	46,027	20,043	25,984	26,824	11,547	15,277
2023-24	72,801	47,006	20,718	26,288	25,795	10,860	14,935
2024-25	73,625	47,974	20,810	27,164	25,651	10,746	14,905
Average	77,361	77,361	20,742	24,896	77,361	13,641	18,082

Michigan Colleges Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 61.28%. The percentage was 66.96% 10 years ago and Michigan Colleges still has a high percentage of white students. 6.68% of enrolled students is Asian and 9.28% is black students.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Michigan Colleges over the past 11 years (2014-2025).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2014-15	2,339	16,739	40,272	15,632	449	276,636	10,253
2015-16	2,290	16,483	41,710	17,489	412	290,560	11,934
2016-17	2,143	17,438	39,908	18,627	368	282,177	12,890
2017-18	1,961	18,170	36,771	19,057	341	269,785	12,532
2018-19	1,921	18,915	35,282	20,068	323	262,048	13,019
2019-20	1,870	19,622	33,684	20,754	316	251,675	14,279
2020-21	1,747	20,238	31,803	21,092	286	239,877	14,199
2021-22	1,711	21,026	30,219	21,524	295	227,712	13,669
2022-23	1,637	21,632	28,618	21,263	273	214,040	12,789
2023-24	1,815	22,389	29,647	22,886	282	212,222	12,822
2024-25	1,924	22,953	31,905	24,727	289	210,600	13,481
Average	1,942	19,600	34,529	20,284	330	248,848	12,897

Michigan Colleges Student Population by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

48,955 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 14% of total students. The number of online students has increased 65.54% since 2013.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Michigan Colleges from 2012 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2012-13	428,629	29,573	45,772	353,284
2013-14	418,756	29,938	47,476	341,342
2014-15	413,117	29,524	47,843	335,750
2015-16	432,369	35,468	53,569	343,332
2016-17	422,856	36,977	57,773	328,106
2017-18	405,240	35,968	62,468	306,804
2018-19	396,251	35,543	65,239	295,469
2019-20	384,494	36,370	68,845	279,279
2020-21	367,185	161,283	132,525	73,377
2021-22	355,901	64,660	144,237	147,004
2022-23	343,227	48,522	114,481	180,224
2023-24	345,280	46,772	113,392	185,116
2024-25	348,749	48,955	114,187	185,607
Average	389,389	49,196	82,139	258,053