Idaho higher ed enrollment increases across state

Lewis-Clark State College: 4,037, a 4.1% increase

College of Eastern Idaho: 3,351, a 10.2% increase

Total: 89,073, a 4.2% increase

The State Board headcounts include full- and part-time degree-seeking students, and career-technical students. They do not include dual-credit enrollment: high school students taking college classes.

The new headcounts show a continued surge, after Idaho colleges and universities recovered from an enrollment decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. Headcount is up 19.1% since fall 2020.

Colleges and universities must file fall enrollment reports with the State Board by Oct. 15. The State Board provided this data to Idaho Education News on Friday.

However, college and university leaders have already been touting highlights from their fall numbers: a record in-state freshman class at Boise State; Idaho State’s highest enrollment in 13 years; record undergraduate enrollment at the U of I; and LC State headcount surpassing 4,000 for the first time in school history.

A heightened sense of urgency surrounds the 2025 enrollment report. College administrators in Idaho and across the nation have long been bracing for a “demographic cliff” — a dwindling number of college-aged students, resulting from lower birth rates during the Great Recession.

This demographic dropoff hasn’t hit yet, in Idaho or nationally. According to a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report issued Tuesday, higher education enrollment is up by 2% nationally.

Nationally, enrollment at four-year schools is up by 1.9%, while community college enrollment is up by 4%. Idaho’s enrollment is up by 4.2% across the board, at four-year schools and community colleges alike.

Idaho Education News is a nonprofit supported on grants from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation, the Education Writers Association and the Solutions Journalism Network.