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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

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Photo by Jaren S. Wilkey/BYU Photo

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