The University of Idaho reported its largest spring student body in school history this semester, with 12,213 students enrolled, a 2.8% increase from Sspring 2025 and the tenth consecutive semester of growth.
The 2025-26 academic year began with a student body of 12,383 students, meaning the difference between semesters has been a total loss of 170 students. The previous academic year had 12,286 students in the fall semester, a difference of 400 students compared to the 11,886 students enrolled in spring 2025.
Undergraduate students make up the majority of enrollment totaling 7,369, a 3.5% increase from 7,123 in Spring 2025.
The number of Idaho residents who enrolled as undergraduate students increased by 5.2% while undergraduate student enrollment from states in the Western Undergraduate Exchange program is up 8.1%.
“Our WUE recruitment strategy has changed in the last several years. We have intentionally targeted those areas because the U of Idaho has an outstanding and very competitive price point to offer WUE students,” said wrote Dean Kahler, vice provost for strategic enrollment management in an emailto The Argonaut.
These methods include, strategically located recruitment staff in Washington, California, Oregan and Colorado, which Kahler said increases awareness about UI in community colleges and high schools. UI also offers scholarship programs to attract well-qualified students, which together have led to the increase in WUE student enrollment.
“In the fall of 2015, our WUE enrollment was 189 students and, in the fall of 2025, our WUE enrollment was 1,872 students,” Kahler said.
Growth was also seen in other programs across the university, such as doctoral student enrollment rising 1.5% to 592 and a 9.4% increase in enrollment at UI’s College of Law to 491 students.
Graduate enrollment has decreased by 0.7%, or 13 students, compared to last year.
“We continue to buck the national trend as students and their families seek the value of a degree from the University of Idaho,” said UI President Scott Green in a press release. “Our students take the unique opportunities offered at U of I and turn them into valuable job-ready skills that employers are looking for.”
Sam Walch can be reached at [email protected].