Skip to main content
Faith

Wave of returning missionaries brings BYU enrollment back up

Newly released Fall 2015 enrollment numbers show BYU's overall enrollment is returning to levels seen previous to the missionary-age-change announcement.

Overall daytime enrollment - including undergraduate and graduate students - is now 32,615 students, just a shade under the roughly 33,000 students enrolled in Fall 2012 when President Thomas S. Monson announced male missionaries could serve at age 18 and female missionaries could serve at age 19.

BYU's Fall 2015 enrollment numbers return to normal levels after the 10 percent enrollment decline that affected Fall 2013 and Fall 2014 levels.

Meanwhile, BYU now has more returned missionaries on campus than ever before. This fall, 20,401 enrolled students have served missions, which represents 63 percent of the student body. In 2012, prior to the missionary-age-change announcement, 15,453 students had served missions (46 percent).

While the percentage of male students who have served missions has jumped from 79 percent to 88 percent, the percentage of female students that have served has gone from 10 percent in 2012 to 33 percent this fall.

Fall Enrollment Data          2015          2014          2012

Undergraduate                     29,682        26,674        30,290
Graduate                             2,933          2,998          3,046
Total Daytime Students        32,615         29,672        33,336
Male/Female                        53/47%       55/45%       52/48%

Returned Missionaries        2015          2014          2012

Male                                    15,312        14,206        13,816
Female                                 5,089          2,518         1,637
Total                                    20,401        16,724        15,453

1509-46 049.jpg
Photo by Jaren S. Wilkey/BYU Photo

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Devotional: Working through wobble

July 01, 2025
In her Tuesday morning devotional, Dawan Coombs, an associate professor of English, spoke powerfully about the divine identity of all of God’s children. She taught how the knowledge of this divine heritage can serve as a lifeline in the times of confusion, trial or indecision.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Devotional: Answering the dual calls for academic excellence and discipleship

June 24, 2025
“Sometimes the pursuit of academic and professional excellence and the pursuit of discipleship are framed as being in tension with each other,” William Clayton said in his devotional address. “My experience is that these pursuits can actually reinforce each other in important ways when we keep our eye single to the glory of God.”
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU: A place we can go to the light, be filled with light and share light

June 10, 2025
Richard Houseman, dean of BYU Continuing Education, gave his devotional address Tuesday morning in the Marriott Center. He centered his remarks on a powerful spiritual pattern of going toward light, being filled with it and then sharing it.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=