Enrollment Trends at WSU

The student population at Wayne State University is 23,803 (16,012 undergraduate and 7,791 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 3,337 (12.30%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at WSU is 67.27% which is decreased by 1,575 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 1,762 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 67 male students for every 100 female students, down from 81 in 2015.
3,013 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 118.33% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 25,744 where 23,803 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 2 year-over-year increases and 7 decreases. It peaked at 27,238 students in 2017 and was lowest at 23,553 in 2024. Overall, enrollment dropped from 27,140 to 23,803 students, a net loss of 3,337 (12.3%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	27,140	17,587	7,826	9,761	9,553	4,317	5,236
2016-17	27,238 98	17,220 -367	7,655 -171	9,565 -196	10,018 465	4,634 317	5,384 148
2017-18	27,064 -174	17,297 77	7,676 21	9,621 56	9,767 -251	4,321 -313	5,446 62
2018-19	27,025 -39	17,574 277	7,599 -77	9,975 354	9,451 -316	4,015 -306	5,436 -10
2019-20	26,824 -201	17,643 69	7,516 -83	10,127 152	9,181 -270	3,799 -216	5,382 -54
2020-21	26,241 -583	17,503 -140	7,190 -326	10,313 186	8,738 -443	3,483 -316	5,255 -127
2021-22	24,919 -1,322	16,839 -664	6,835 -355	10,004 -309	8,080 -658	3,232 -251	4,848 -407
2022-23	23,630 -1,289	15,958 -881	6,491 -344	9,467 -537	7,672 -408	2,962 -270	4,710 -138
2023-24	23,553 -77	16,117 159	6,521 30	9,596 129	7,436 -236	2,872 -90	4,564 -146
2024-25	23,803 250	16,012 -105	6,567 46	9,445 -151	7,791 355	2,990 118	4,801 237
Average	25,744	16,975	7,188	9,787	8,769	3,663	5,106

Wayne State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 16,975 where 16,012 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 Wayne State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	17,587	11,856	5,308	6,548	5,731	2,518	3,213
2016-17	17,220	12,003	5,293	6,710	5,217	2,362	2,855
2017-18	17,297	12,389	5,391	6,998	4,908	2,285	2,623
2018-19	17,574	12,956	5,396	7,560	4,618	2,203	2,415
2019-20	17,643	13,107	5,404	7,703	4,536	2,112	2,424
2020-21	17,503	13,407	5,314	8,093	4,096	1,876	2,220
2021-22	16,839	12,900	5,070	7,830	3,939	1,765	2,174
2022-23	15,958	12,106	4,828	7,278	3,852	1,663	2,189
2023-24	16,117	12,486	5,006	7,480	3,631	1,515	2,116
2024-25	16,012	12,706	5,202	7,504	3,306	1,365	1,941
Average	16,975	16,975	5,221	7,370	16,975	1,966	2,417

Wayne State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 8,769 where 7,791 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 Wayne State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	9,553	6,066	2,939	3,127	3,487	1,378	2,109
2016-17	10,018	6,230	3,067	3,163	3,788	1,567	2,221
2017-18	9,767	5,909	2,764	3,145	3,858	1,557	2,301
2018-19	9,451	5,790	2,528	3,262	3,661	1,487	2,174
2019-20	9,181	5,528	2,308	3,220	3,653	1,491	2,162
2020-21	8,738	5,424	2,174	3,250	3,314	1,309	2,005
2021-22	8,080	5,071	2,031	3,040	3,009	1,201	1,808
2022-23	7,672	4,879	1,907	2,972	2,793	1,055	1,738
2023-24	7,436	4,896	1,945	2,951	2,540	927	1,613
2024-25	7,791	5,132	2,024	3,108	2,659	966	1,693
Average	8,769	8,769	2,369	3,124	8,769	1,294	1,982

Wayne State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 53.19%. The percentage was 55.34% 10 years ago and WSU still has a high percentage of white students. 12.10% of enrolled students is Asian and 16.88% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 7.28% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 55.34% to 53.19%. Asian enrollment grew from 7.46% to 12.10%. Black student enrollment increased from 16.43% to 16.88%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 3.89% to 7.28%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.6668 which indicates that moderately diverse. This increased from 0.6588 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Wayne State 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	72	2,024	4,460	1,056	22	15,020	781
2016-17	75	2,113	4,188	1,154	20	15,434	842
2017-18	65	2,247	4,115	1,186	19	15,607	897
2018-19	73	2,332	4,059	1,266	17	15,765	969
2019-20	78	2,556	3,923	1,367	18	14,784	1,843
2020-21	68	2,680	3,901	1,447	15	14,540	1,800
2021-22	67	2,711	3,681	1,495	12	13,710	1,535
2022-23	53	2,725	3,531	1,456	11	13,182	909
2023-24	52	2,835	3,766	1,660	13	12,813	878
2024-25	44	2,879	4,019	1,732	10	12,662	997
Average	65	2,510	3,964	1,382	16	14,352	1,145

Wayne State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

3,013 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 13% of total students. The number of online students has increased 118.33% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Wayne State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	27,140	1,380	4,790	20,970
2016-17	27,238	1,603	5,169	20,466
2017-18	27,064	1,733	5,774	19,557
2018-19	27,025	1,859	6,953	18,213
2019-20	26,824	1,906	7,300	17,618
2020-21	26,241	18,883	5,135	2,223
2021-22	24,919	6,526	13,128	5,265
2022-23	23,630	3,328	10,452	9,850
2023-24	23,553	2,952	11,120	9,481
2024-25	23,803	3,013	10,784	10,006
Average	25,744	4,318	8,061	13,365

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Enrollment Trends at WSU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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