Enrollment Trends at UNL

The student population at University of Nebraska-Lincoln is 24,393 (19,701 undergraduate and 4,692 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 867 (3.43%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at UNL is 80.76% which is decreased by 481 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 386 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 98 male students for every 100 female students, down from 108 in 2015.
1,697 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 25.42% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Trends by Subject

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 25,017 where 24,393 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 26,079 students in 2018 and was lowest at 23,805 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 25,260 to 24,393 students, a net loss of 867 (3.4%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	25,260	20,182	10,701	9,481	5,078	2,410	2,668
2016-17	25,897 637	20,833 651	10,865 164	9,968 487	5,064 -14	2,512 102	2,552 -116
2017-18	26,079 182	20,954 121	10,995 130	9,959 -9	5,125 61	2,519 7	2,606 54
2018-19	25,820 -259	20,830 -124	10,997 2	9,833 -126	4,990 -135	2,455 -64	2,535 -71
2019-20	25,390 -430	20,478 -352	10,758 -239	9,720 -113	4,912 -78	2,331 -124	2,581 46
2020-21	25,108 -282	20,286 -192	10,496 -262	9,790 70	4,822 -90	2,290 -41	2,532 -49
2021-22	24,431 -677	19,552 -734	9,873 -623	9,679 -111	4,879 57	2,401 111	2,478 -54
2022-23	23,805 -626	19,189 -363	9,616 -257	9,573 -106	4,616 -263	2,253 -148	2,363 -115
2023-24	23,986 181	19,338 149	9,562 -54	9,776 203	4,648 32	2,288 35	2,360 -3
2024-25	24,393 407	19,701 363	9,847 285	9,854 78	4,692 44	2,232 -56	2,460 100
Average	25,017	20,134	10,371	9,763	4,883	2,369	2,514

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 20,134 where 19,701 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 University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	20,182	18,817	9,905	8,912	1,365	796	569
2016-17	20,833	19,381	10,022	9,359	1,452	843	609
2017-18	20,954	19,534	10,175	9,359	1,420	820	600
2018-19	20,830	19,466	10,208	9,258	1,364	789	575
2019-20	20,478	19,132	9,943	9,189	1,346	815	531
2020-21	20,286	18,949	9,689	9,260	1,337	807	530
2021-22	19,552	18,437	9,238	9,199	1,115	635	480
2022-23	19,189	18,175	9,016	9,159	1,014	600	414
2023-24	19,338	18,449	9,062	9,387	889	500	389
2024-25	19,701	18,767	9,324	9,443	934	523	411
Average	20,134	20,134	9,658	9,253	20,134	713	511

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 4,883 where 4,692 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 University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,078	2,643	1,392	1,251	2,435	1,018	1,417
2016-17	5,064	2,681	1,429	1,252	2,383	1,083	1,300
2017-18	5,125	2,719	1,427	1,292	2,406	1,092	1,314
2018-19	4,990	2,725	1,444	1,281	2,265	1,011	1,254
2019-20	4,912	2,640	1,331	1,309	2,272	1,000	1,272
2020-21	4,822	2,585	1,290	1,295	2,237	1,000	1,237
2021-22	4,879	2,618	1,355	1,263	2,261	1,046	1,215
2022-23	4,616	2,520	1,294	1,226	2,096	959	1,137
2023-24	4,648	2,648	1,377	1,271	2,000	911	1,089
2024-25	4,692	2,732	1,370	1,362	1,960	862	1,098
Average	4,883	4,883	1,371	1,280	4,883	998	1,233

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 72.05%. The percentage was 75.07% 10 years ago and UNL still has a high percentage of white students. 3.85% of enrolled students is Asian and 2.85% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 8.95% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 75.07% to 72.05%. Asian enrollment grew from 2.28% to 3.85%. Black student enrollment increased from 2.57% to 2.85%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 4.97% to 8.95%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.4693 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.4322 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at University of Nebraska-Lincoln 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	54	576	649	1,256	19	18,962	651
2016-17	45	627	697	1,373	18	19,149	723
2017-18	70	679	690	1,505	21	19,005	754
2018-19	69	699	676	1,571	16	18,833	741
2019-20	63	707	668	1,708	14	18,545	758
2020-21	53	795	663	1,850	10	18,448	770
2021-22	58	867	651	1,863	11	17,986	798
2022-23	52	850	673	1,958	14	17,427	808
2023-24	60	905	689	2,050	14	17,459	835
2024-25	71	938	694	2,184	19	17,574	892
Average	60	764	675	1,732	16	18,339	773

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

1,697 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 7% of total students. The number of online students has increased 25.42% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	25,260	1,353	6,558	17,349
2016-17	25,897	1,375	8,862	15,660
2017-18	26,079	1,477	9,419	15,183
2018-19	25,820	1,649	10,178	13,993
2019-20	25,390	1,628	10,821	12,941
2020-21	25,108	2,016	14,716	8,376
2021-22	24,431	1,954	13,905	8,572
2022-23	23,805	1,652	13,200	8,953
2023-24	23,986	1,568	13,560	8,858
2024-25	24,393	1,697	14,051	8,645
Average	25,017	1,637	11,527	11,853

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