Enrollment Trends for Wisconsin Colleges

There are 54 active four-years colleges and universities in Wisconsin - 17 public and 37 private schools. In the academic year 2022-2023, a total of 228,590 students have enrolled in four-years colleges in Wisconsin including undergraduate and graduate programs. Compared to the population of 10 years ago, the the number of students decreased by 8.56% from 249,986 to 228,590. The undergraduate population decreased by 10.75% and the graduate population increased by 3.14% in last 10 years at Wisconsin Colleges.

By gender, there are 131,970 female students and 96,620 male students enrolled in the schools. The female to male students ratio is 1.37 to 1. The female students decreased by 5.96% and male students decreased by 11.88% in that period.

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Student Population Changes

The average number of students over the past 11 years is 240,624, and 228,590 students were attending the schools in the academic year 2022-2023. Of the total students, 82.15% are undergraduate students and 17.85% are graduate students. Over the past 11, the number of undergraduate students decreased by 22,637, and the graduate student enrollment increased by 1,352.

The female to male ratio is 1.36 to 1, meaning that there are more female students enrolled in Wisconsin Colleges than male students.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Wisconsin Colleges since 2013.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	249,986	210,506	93,419	117,087	39,480	16,232	23,248
2013-14	247,860 -2,126	208,375 -2,131	92,642 -777	115,733 -1,354	39,485 5	16,212 -20	23,273 25
2014-15	249,101 1,241	209,099 724	92,987 345	116,112 379	40,002 517	16,274 62	23,728 455
2015-16	245,062 -4,039	205,218 -3,881	91,868 -1,119	113,350 -2,762	39,844 -158	16,041 -233	23,803 75
2016-17	240,089 -4,973	200,682 -4,536	89,364 -2,504	111,318 -2,032	39,407 -437	15,808 -233	23,599 -204
2017-18	237,578 -2,511	198,061 -2,621	88,266 -1,098	109,795 -1,523	39,517 110	15,828 20	23,689 90
2018-19	244,497 6,919	205,706 7,645	91,123 2,857	114,583 4,788	38,791 -726	15,447 -381	23,344 -345
2019-20	239,503 -4,994	200,587 -5,119	87,795 -3,328	112,792 -1,791	38,916 125	15,351 -96	23,565 221
2020-21	234,331 -5,172	194,741 -5,846	83,781 -4,014	110,960 -1,832	39,590 674	15,400 49	24,190 625
2021-22	230,264 -4,067	189,393 -5,348	81,548 -2,233	107,845 -3,115	40,871 1,281	15,385 -15	25,486 1,296
2022-23	228,590 -1,674	187,869 -1,524	81,496 -52	106,373 -1,472	40,721 -150	15,124 -261	25,597 111
Average	240,624	200,931	88,572	112,359	39,693	15,737	23,957

Wisconsin Colleges Student Population Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the past 11 years is 200,931. Compared 11 years ago, the number of Undergraduate students decreased by 22,637 from 210,506 to 187,869.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Wisconsin Colleges since 2013.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	210,506	169,828	78,012	91,816	40,678	15,407	25,271
2013-14	208,375	168,956	77,499	91,457	39,419	15,143	24,276
2014-15	209,099	166,563	76,475	90,088	42,536	16,512	26,024
2015-16	205,218	163,810	75,440	88,370	41,408	16,428	24,980
2016-17	200,682	160,330	73,495	86,835	40,352	15,869	24,483
2017-18	198,061	157,686	72,077	85,609	40,375	16,189	24,186
2018-19	205,706	161,642	73,507	88,135	44,064	17,616	26,448
2019-20	200,587	159,001	71,411	87,590	41,586	16,384	25,202
2020-21	194,741	152,899	67,561	85,338	41,842	16,220	25,622
2021-22	189,393	149,162	66,100	83,062	40,231	15,448	24,783
2022-23	187,869	146,459	65,404	81,055	41,410	16,092	25,318
Average	200,931	200,931	72,453	87,214	200,931	16,119	25,145

Wisconsin Colleges Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the past 11 years is 39,693. Compared 11 years ago, the number of Graduate students increased by 1,241 from 39,480 to 40,721.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Wisconsin Colleges since 2013.

Year	Total	Fulltime			Parttime
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	39,480	22,109	9,762	12,347	17,371	6,470	10,901
2013-14	39,485	22,632	9,943	12,689	16,853	6,269	10,584
2014-15	40,002	22,554	9,966	12,588	17,448	6,308	11,140
2015-16	39,844	22,272	9,652	12,620	17,572	6,389	11,183
2016-17	39,407	22,253	9,579	12,674	17,154	6,229	10,925
2017-18	39,517	22,211	9,444	12,767	17,306	6,384	10,922
2018-19	38,791	22,074	9,230	12,844	16,717	6,217	10,500
2019-20	38,916	22,268	9,108	13,160	16,648	6,243	10,405
2020-21	39,590	23,432	9,225	14,207	16,158	6,175	9,983
2021-22	40,871	24,775	9,477	15,298	16,096	5,908	10,188
2022-23	40,721	24,928	9,490	15,438	15,793	5,634	10,159
Average	39,693	39,693	9,534	13,330	39,693	6,202	10,626

Wisconsin Colleges Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 70.17%. The percentage was 78.46% 10 years ago and Wisconsin Colleges still has a high percentage of white students. 4.95% of enrolled students is Asian and 4.47% is black students.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Wisconsin Colleges over the past 11 years (2012-2023).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2012-13	1,647	8,495	11,902	10,821	260	196,137	5,007
2013-14	1,626	8,486	11,383	11,517	247	192,383	5,729
2014-15	1,480	8,848	11,230	12,586	252	191,112	6,206
2015-16	1,325	9,199	10,873	13,172	252	187,194	6,728
2016-17	1,286	9,345	10,303	13,759	236	182,493	6,815
2017-18	1,180	9,493	10,139	14,650	227	178,960	7,084
2018-19	1,179	10,249	10,169	16,661	218	181,987	7,462
2019-20	1,130	10,395	10,207	17,488	236	176,012	7,599
2020-21	1,102	10,700	9,949	18,384	191	171,681	7,572
2021-22	979	10,748	10,087	18,825	207	165,780	7,614
2022-23	1,346	11,317	10,224	19,686	193	160,485	8,030
Average	1,298	9,752	10,588	15,232	229	180,384	6,895

Wisconsin Colleges Student Population by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

30,712 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2022-2023, which is 13% of total students. The number of online students has increased 81.68% since 2013.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Wisconsin Colleges from 2012 to 2023.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2012-13	249,986	16,904	26,095	206,987
2013-14	247,860	18,686	27,713	201,461
2014-15	249,101	19,555	29,636	199,910
2015-16	245,062	19,769	32,276	193,017
2016-17	240,089	20,111	33,828	186,150
2017-18	237,578	20,510	36,686	180,382
2018-19	244,497	23,002	42,486	179,009
2019-20	239,503	22,455	44,904	172,144
2020-21	234,339	81,279	107,501	45,559
2021-22	230,264	33,060	74,809	122,395
2022-23	228,590	30,712	68,424	129,454
Average	240,624	27,822	47,669	165,133

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