Enrollment Trends at WMU

The student population at Western Michigan University is 16,744 (13,027 undergraduate and 3,717 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 6,785 (28.84%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at WMU is 77.80% which is decreased by 5,540 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 1,245 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 84 male students for every 100 female students, down from 96 in 2015.
2,238 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 123.80% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 20,225 where 16,744 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 1 year-over-year increase and 8 decreases. It peaked at 23,529 students in 2016 and was lowest at 16,693 in 2024. Overall, enrollment dropped from 23,529 to 16,744 students, a net loss of 6,785 (28.8%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	23,529	18,567	9,425	9,142	4,962	2,128	2,834
2016-17	23,227 -302	18,313 -254	9,243 -182	9,070 -72	4,914 -48	2,059 -69	2,855 21
2017-18	22,869 -358	17,936 -377	9,041 -202	8,895 -175	4,933 19	2,068 9	2,865 10
2018-19	22,562 -307	17,760 -176	9,118 77	8,642 -253	4,802 -131	1,915 -153	2,887 22
2019-20	21,470 -1,092	17,051 -709	8,722 -396	8,329 -313	4,419 -383	1,720 -195	2,699 -188
2020-21	19,887 -1,583	15,969 -1,082	8,074 -648	7,895 -434	3,918 -501	1,472 -248	2,446 -253
2021-22	18,266 -1,621	14,587 -1,382	7,303 -771	7,284 -611	3,679 -239	1,375 -97	2,304 -142
2022-23	17,000 -1,266	13,589 -998	6,768 -535	6,821 -463	3,411 -268	1,286 -89	2,125 -179
2023-24	16,693 -307	13,026 -563	6,425 -343	6,601 -220	3,667 256	1,350 64	2,317 192
2024-25	16,744 51	13,027 1	6,296 -129	6,731 130	3,717 50	1,368 18	2,349 32
Average	20,225	15,983	8,042	7,941	4,242	1,674	2,568

Western Michigan University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 15,983 where 13,027 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 Western Michigan University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	18,567	15,416	7,880	7,536	3,151	1,545	1,606
2016-17	18,313	15,048	7,684	7,364	3,265	1,559	1,706
2017-18	17,936	15,063	7,671	7,392	2,873	1,370	1,503
2018-19	17,760	14,983	7,737	7,246	2,777	1,381	1,396
2019-20	17,051	14,558	7,427	7,131	2,493	1,295	1,198
2020-21	15,969	13,296	6,657	6,639	2,673	1,417	1,256
2021-22	14,587	12,149	6,066	6,083	2,438	1,237	1,201
2022-23	13,589	11,421	5,643	5,778	2,168	1,125	1,043
2023-24	13,026	11,036	5,377	5,659	1,990	1,048	942
2024-25	13,027	10,990	5,265	5,725	2,037	1,031	1,006
Average	15,983	15,983	6,741	6,655	15,983	1,301	1,286

Western Michigan University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 4,242 where 3,717 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 Western Michigan University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	4,962	1,118	410	708	3,844	1,718	2,126
2016-17	4,914	1,153	407	746	3,761	1,652	2,109
2017-18	4,933	1,110	416	694	3,823	1,652	2,171
2018-19	4,802	1,047	344	703	3,755	1,571	2,184
2019-20	4,419	955	294	661	3,464	1,426	2,038
2020-21	3,918	919	281	638	2,999	1,191	1,808
2021-22	3,679	876	226	650	2,803	1,149	1,654
2022-23	3,411	1,275	419	856	2,136	867	1,269
2023-24	3,667	1,345	472	873	2,322	878	1,444
2024-25	3,717	1,348	463	885	2,369	905	1,464
Average	4,242	4,242	373	741	4,242	1,301	1,827

Western Michigan University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 65.87%. The percentage was 69.76% 10 years ago and WMU still has a high percentage of white students. 3.36% of enrolled students is Asian and 7.88% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 8.71% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 69.76% to 65.87%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.83% to 3.36%. Black student enrollment decreased from 11.24% to 7.88%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 4.94% to 8.71%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5494 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.4970 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Western Michigan 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	93	430	2,644	1,162	25	16,415	689
2016-17	96	464	2,628	1,190	17	16,061	752
2017-18	99	494	2,562	1,283	19	15,721	786
2018-19	99	550	2,374	1,485	19	15,166	753
2019-20	95	571	2,191	1,431	18	14,441	744
2020-21	79	570	1,906	1,448	14	13,476	681
2021-22	73	519	1,552	1,458	10	12,365	617
2022-23	68	513	1,383	1,339	10	11,381	628
2023-24	74	523	1,290	1,394	9	11,146	626
2024-25	74	563	1,319	1,458	9	11,030	704
Average	85	520	1,985	1,365	15	13,720	698

Western Michigan University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

2,238 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 123.80% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Western Michigan University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	23,529	1,000	3,556	18,973
2016-17	23,227	1,104	3,934	18,189
2017-18	22,869	1,180	4,105	17,584
2018-19	22,562	1,236	4,416	16,910
2019-20	21,470	1,318	4,656	15,496
2020-21	19,887	7,025	11,131	1,731
2021-22	18,266	2,770	10,416	5,080
2022-23	17,000	1,811	8,726	6,463
2023-24	16,693	1,950	7,844	6,899
2024-25	16,744	2,238	7,676	6,830
Average	20,225	2,163	6,646	11,416

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Enrollment Trends at WMU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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