Enrollment Trends at MWSU

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 4,855 where 3,716 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 5,669 students in 2019 and was lowest at 3,716 in 2025. Overall, enrollment dropped from 5,513 to 3,716 students, a net loss of 1,797 (32.6%).

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

• Trends Table
• By Gender Chart
• By Level Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
		Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,513	5,296	2,165	3,131	217	103	114
2016-17	5,363 -150	5,120 -176	2,107 -58	3,013 -118	243 26	103	140 26
2017-18	5,533 170	5,292 172	2,175 68	3,117 104	241 -2	89 -14	152 12
2018-19	5,669 136	5,434 142	2,142 -33	3,292 175	235 -6	95 6	140 -12
2019-20	5,608 -61	5,367 -67	2,100 -42	3,267 -25	241 6	90 -5	151 11
2020-21	4,911 -697	4,717 -650	1,774 -326	2,943 -324	194 -47	70 -20	124 -27
2021-22	4,395 -516	4,219 -498	1,584 -190	2,635 -308	176 -18	56 -14	120 -4
2022-23	4,023 -372	3,841 -378	1,470 -114	2,371 -264	182 6	69 13	113 -7
2023-24	3,817 -206	3,604 -237	1,396 -74	2,208 -163	213 31	77 8	136 23
2024-25	3,716 -101	3,491 -113	1,361 -35	2,130 -78	225 12	67 -10	158 22
Average	4,855	4,638	1,827	2,811	217	82	135

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 4,638 where 3,491 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 Missouri Western State University since 2015.

• Trends Table
• By Gender Chart
• By Status Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
		Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,296	3,631	1,497	2,134	1,665	668	997
2016-17	5,120	3,439	1,402	2,037	1,681	705	976
2017-18	5,292	3,498	1,418	2,080	1,794	757	1,037
2018-19	5,434	3,592	1,433	2,159	1,842	709	1,133
2019-20	5,367	3,382	1,320	2,062	1,985	780	1,205
2020-21	4,717	3,039	1,184	1,855	1,678	590	1,088
2021-22	4,219	2,579	993	1,586	1,640	591	1,049
2022-23	3,841	2,337	951	1,386	1,504	519	985
2023-24	3,604	2,132	849	1,283	1,472	547	925
2024-25	3,491	2,010	822	1,188	1,481	539	942
Average	4,638	4,638	1,187	1,777	4,638	641	1,034

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 217 where 225 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 Missouri Western State University since 2015.

• Trends Table
• By Gender Chart
• By Status Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
		Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	217	67	48	19	150	55	95
2016-17	243	93	55	38	150	48	102
2017-18	241	82	36	46	159	53	106
2018-19	235	81	49	32	154	46	108
2019-20	241	67	33	34	174	57	117
2020-21	194	67	34	33	127	36	91
2021-22	176	59	22	37	117	34	83
2022-23	182	14	6	8	168	63	105
2023-24	213	66	28	38	147	49	98
2024-25	225	86	30	56	139	37	102
Average	217	217	34	34	217	48	101

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 67.09%. The percentage was 80.57% 10 years ago and MWSU still has a high percentage of white students. 1.78% of enrolled students is Asian and 10.17% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 0.86% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 80.57% to 67.09%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.36% to 1.78%. Black student enrollment increased from 8.78% to 10.17%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 0.80% to 0.86%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5300 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.3420 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Missouri Western State University over the past 11 years (2015-2025).

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
	2015-16	17	75	484	44	9	4,442	162
2016-17	21	71	450	60	10	4,286	179
2017-18	25	77	489	101	11	4,341	198
2018-19	27	94	492	137	11	4,371	224
2019-20	31	86	530	152	10	4,284	347
2020-21	32	83	446	136	13	3,648	329
2021-22	26	92	457	88	14	3,193	331
2022-23	51	85	434	50	6	2,758	335
2023-24	59	71	409	42	11	2,623	314
2024-25	65	66	378	32	7	2,493	350
Average	35	80	457	84	10	3,644	277