The University of Idaho has seen a 0.9% drop in overall fall enrollment, to about 12,275, from the fall 2025 enrollment of about 12,383 students.
The slight drop comes after the university continued its fifth year and ninth semester streak last year of growing enrollment.. This change also comes as national university enrollment rates have gone up by 1 percent. Western Undergraduate Exchange students in fall 2026 decreased 1.5% to 1,844 from 1,872 in 2025.
In an Argonaut email interview, Dean Kahler, Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management, stated, “The U of I has strategies in place to address the declining number of high school graduates. We recently became the Best Value Public University in the US as well the only Best Value University for Resident Students in Idaho according to USNews and World Report. We plan to maximize our marketing message to our target audiences so that they are aware of the great value in attending the U of Idaho.”
Continuing undergraduate student enrollment is down 0.2% from last fall as well, going from 5,538 in fall 2025 to 5,526 in fall of 2026. There is a high retention rate, at 77.3%, which is an emphasis of the University of Idaho’s strategic plan.
International undergraduate enrollment decreased significantly, by 21.6% from 421 students during fall 2025 to 330 students in fall 2026. This may be tied to the US Department of Homeland Security’s planned restrictions on the flexibility of student visas and can be following the trend of decreasing international enrollment since the start of the second Trump administration.
“We have pursued additional marketing opportunities in domestic markets where we believe we can be competitive…We are utilizing AI in some of our marketing outreach to supplement our efforts. Jane Vandal is a great example of how we have implemented AI,” said Kahler.
The UI College of Law enrollment is up 10.2% with 553 students, from 502 last year. This 2026 freshman class is the largest first year class in the history of the UI law school.
Josephine Adjanohoun can be reached at [email protected]