Enrollment Trends at WKU

The student population at Western Kentucky University is 16,493 (14,440 undergraduate and 2,053 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 4,617 over the past decade.

The percentage of undergraduate students at WKU is 87.55% which is decreased by 3,661 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 956 and it has been decreasing. The female to male ratio is 1.67 to 1 which means that female students enrolled more than male students.

3,162 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 11.73% since 2014.

School Home 2023 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 12 years is 19,155 where 16,493 students are attending the school for the academic year 2022-2023.

87.55% of total students is undergraduate students and 12.45% students is graduate students. The number of undergraduate students has decreased by 3,661 and the graduate enrollment has decreased by 956 over past 10 years.

The female to male ratio is 1.67 to 1 and it means that there are more female students enrolled in WKU than male students.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Western Kentucky University since 2012.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	21,110	18,101	7,689	10,412	3,009	946	2,063
2013-14	20,448 -662	17,509 -592	7,616 -73	9,893 -519	2,939 -70	943 -3	1,996 -67
2014-15	20,171 -277	17,452 -57	7,580 -36	9,872 -21	2,719 -220	881 -62	1,838 -158
2015-16	20,063 -108	17,310 -142	7,421 -159	9,889 17	2,753 34	972 91	1,781 -57
2016-17	20,271 208	17,595 285	7,363 -58	10,232 343	2,676 -77	963 -9	1,713 -68
2017-18	20,257 -14	17,656 61	7,296 -67	10,360 128	2,601 -75	888 -75	1,713 0
2018-19	19,456 -801	17,030 -626	6,930 -366	10,100 -260	2,426 -175	805 -83	1,621 -92
2019-20	18,171 -1,285	15,895 -1,135	6,340 -590	9,555 -545	2,276 -150	749 -56	1,527 -94
2020-21	17,517 -654	15,286 -609	5,928 -412	9,358 -197	2,231 -45	796 47	1,435 -92
2021-22	16,750 -767	14,729 -557	5,561 -367	9,168 -190	2,021 -210	689 -107	1,332 -103
2022-23	16,493 -257	14,440 -289	5,490 -71	8,950 -218	2,053 32	693 4	1,360 28
Average	19,155	16,637	6,838	9,799	2,519	848	1,671

Western Kentucky University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 12 years is 16,637 where 14,440 students are attending the Undergraduate school for the academic year 2022-2023. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Western Kentucky University since 2012.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	18,101	13,868	6,181	7,687	4,233	1,508	2,725
2013-14	17,509	13,382	6,091	7,291	4,127	1,525	2,602
2014-15	17,452	13,297	6,052	7,245	4,155	1,528	2,627
2015-16	17,310	13,152	5,859	7,293	4,158	1,562	2,596
2016-17	17,595	13,160	5,769	7,391	4,435	1,594	2,841
2017-18	17,656	12,919	5,567	7,352	4,737	1,729	3,008
2018-19	17,030	12,393	5,249	7,144	4,637	1,681	2,956
2019-20	15,895	11,815	4,858	6,957	4,080	1,482	2,598
2020-21	15,286	11,749	4,660	7,089	3,537	1,268	2,269
2021-22	14,729	11,359	4,374	6,985	3,370	1,187	2,183
2022-23	14,440	11,163	4,305	6,858	3,277	1,185	2,092
Average	16,637	16,637	5,360	7,208	16,637	1,477	2,591

Western Kentucky University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 12 years is 2,519 where 2,053 students are attending the Graduate school for the academic year 2022-2023. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Western Kentucky University since 2012.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2012-13	3,009	885	327	558	2,124	619	1,505
2013-14	2,939	933	337	596	2,006	606	1,400
2014-15	2,719	931	356	575	1,788	525	1,263
2015-16	2,753	1,028	401	627	1,725	571	1,154
2016-17	2,676	1,001	402	599	1,675	561	1,114
2017-18	2,601	879	317	562	1,722	571	1,151
2018-19	2,426	835	283	552	1,591	522	1,069
2019-20	2,276	776	221	555	1,500	528	972
2020-21	2,231	829	258	571	1,402	538	864
2021-22	2,021	756	241	515	1,265	448	817
2022-23	2,053	741	222	519	1,312	471	841
Average	2,519	2,519	306	566	2,519	542	1,105

Western Kentucky University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 77.51%. The percentage was 78.91% 10 years ago and WKU still has a high percentage of white students. 3.06% of enrolled students is Asian and 8.18% is black students.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Western Kentucky University over the past 12 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	55	203	2,254	443	16	16,657	378
2013-14	53	211	2,101	476	22	15,811	392
2014-15	46	210	1,938	515	18	15,314	444
2015-16	39	244	1,786	594	20	15,240	494
2016-17	38	295	1,767	588	21	15,598	567
2017-18	53	323	1,739	654	26	15,753	622
2018-19	54	369	1,619	692	21	15,350	621
2019-20	42	400	1,506	729	21	14,354	599
2020-21	33	427	1,557	771	28	13,723	619
2021-22	32	464	1,439	816	17	13,032	619
2022-23	37	505	1,349	857	16	12,784	602
Average	44	332	1,732	649	21	14,874	542

Western Kentucky University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

3,162 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2022-2023, which is 19% of total students. The number of online students has increased 11.73% since 2014. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Western Kentucky University from 2014 to 2023.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2014-15	20,171	2,830	4,437	12,904
2015-16	20,063	2,792	4,895	12,376
2016-17	20,271	3,216	5,179	11,876
2017-18	20,257	3,335	4,840	12,082
2018-19	19,456	3,575	4,906	10,975
2019-20	18,171	3,376	4,092	10,703
2020-21	17,517	4,127	10,806	2,584
2021-22	16,750	3,205	6,291	7,254
2022-23	16,493	3,162	6,396	6,935
Average	18,794	3,291	5,760	9,743

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