Enrollment Trends at Western Carolina

The student population at Western Carolina University is 11,635 (9,956 undergraduate and 1,679 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 1,528 over the past decade.

The percentage of undergraduate students at Western Carolina is 85.57% which is increased by 1,508 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 20 and it has been increasing. The female to male ratio is 1.43 to 1 which means that female students enrolled more than male students.

2,858 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 70.32% since 2014.

School Home 2023 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 11,223 where 11,635 students are attending the school for the academic year 2022-2023.

85.57% of total students is undergraduate students and 14.43% students is graduate students. The number of undergraduate students has increased by 1,508 and the graduate enrollment has increased by 20 over past 10 years.

The female to male ratio is 1.43 to 1 and it means that there are more female students enrolled in Western Carolina than male students.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Western Carolina University since 2013.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	10,107	8,448	3,806	4,642	1,659	559	1,100
2014-15	10,382 275	8,787 339	3,999 193	4,788 146	1,595 -64	537 -22	1,058 -42
2015-16	10,340 -42	8,821 34	3,985 -14	4,836 48	1,519 -76	510 -27	1,009 -49
2016-17	10,805 465	9,171 350	4,143 158	5,028 192	1,634 115	544 34	1,090 81
2017-18	11,034 229	9,406 235	4,240 97	5,166 138	1,628 -6	505 -39	1,123 33
2018-19	11,639 605	10,027 621	4,542 302	5,485 319	1,612 -16	505 0	1,107 -16
2019-20	12,167 528	10,469 442	4,717 175	5,752 267	1,698 86	563 58	1,135 28
2020-21	12,243 76	10,517 48	4,683 -34	5,834 82	1,726 28	561 -2	1,165 30
2021-22	11,877 -366	10,145 -372	4,427 -256	5,718 -116	1,732 6	556 -5	1,176 11
2022-23	11,635 -242	9,956 -189	4,275 -152	5,681 -37	1,679 -53	522 -34	1,157 -19
Average	11,223	9,575	4,282	5,293	1,648	536	1,112

Western Carolina University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 9,575 where 9,956 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 Carolina University since 2013.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	8,448	7,081	3,252	3,829	1,367	554	813
2014-15	8,787	7,373	3,448	3,925	1,414	551	863
2015-16	8,821	7,440	3,417	4,023	1,381	568	813
2016-17	9,171	7,871	3,611	4,260	1,300	532	768
2017-18	9,406	8,040	3,726	4,314	1,366	514	852
2018-19	10,027	8,617	3,985	4,632	1,410	557	853
2019-20	10,469	8,934	4,090	4,844	1,535	627	908
2020-21	10,517	8,760	3,979	4,781	1,757	704	1,053
2021-22	10,145	8,233	3,704	4,529	1,912	723	1,189
2022-23	9,956	8,031	3,526	4,505	1,925	749	1,176
Average	9,575	9,575	3,674	4,364	9,575	608	929

Western Carolina University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 1,648 where 1,679 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 Carolina University since 2013.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	1,659	669	211	458	990	348	642
2014-15	1,595	665	209	456	930	328	602
2015-16	1,519	674	204	470	845	306	539
2016-17	1,634	696	216	480	938	328	610
2017-18	1,628	767	227	540	861	278	583
2018-19	1,612	764	239	525	848	266	582
2019-20	1,698	810	258	552	888	305	583
2020-21	1,726	874	276	598	852	285	567
2021-22	1,732	932	286	646	800	270	530
2022-23	1,679	865	249	616	814	273	541
Average	1,648	1,648	238	534	1,648	299	578

Western Carolina University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 76.54%. The percentage was 80.93% 10 years ago and Western Carolina still has a high percentage of white students. 1.27% of enrolled students is Asian and 6.38% is black students.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Western Carolina University over the past 11 years (2013-2023).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2013-14	88	126	633	411	9	8,180	272
2014-15	87	134	669	496	12	8,287	320
2015-16	74	143	661	574	12	8,173	384
2016-17	78	135	718	643	14	8,514	411
2017-18	74	127	687	706	9	8,673	420
2018-19	99	129	683	786	7	9,164	449
2019-20	103	132	669	865	4	9,558	439
2020-21	108	160	669	918	7	9,611	409
2021-22	116	158	722	891	10	9,224	387
2022-23	109	148	742	891	15	8,905	407
Average	94	139	685	718	10	8,829	390

Western Carolina University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

2,858 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2022-2023, which is 25% of total students. The number of online students has increased 70.32% since 2014. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Western Carolina University from 2014 to 2023.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2014-15	10,382	1,678	806	7,898
2015-16	10,340	1,786	1,358	7,196
2016-17	10,805	1,920	1,204	7,681
2017-18	11,034	1,986	1,385	7,663
2018-19	11,639	2,151	1,954	7,534
2019-20	12,167	2,395	2,605	7,167
2020-21	12,243	3,027	6,876	2,340
2021-22	11,877	2,820	3,568	5,489
2022-23	11,635	2,858	3,482	5,295
Average	11,347	2,291	2,582	6,474

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