Enrollment Booms

Danielle Lamberson Philipp

In fall 2023, UW–Madison’s student enrollment topped 50,000 for the first time. The milestone was the result of the university’s steady, strategic growth over
the past decade, accompanied by a record-setting number of student applications.

In short: people are interested in the UW, and the university is content to meet the demand.

Historically, however, the UW’s enrollment trends have not always been dictated by institutional priority. A survey of enrollment reports over the past 100 years shows periods of growth and decline that closely trace the course of American history.

As the U.S. entered World War II, the UW discharged its scholars to the front lines, halving the student population from 11,376 in 1940 to 5,904 in 1943. After the war, with veterans gaining access to college from the GI Bill, enrollment doubled in 1946 to a then-record 18,598 students. The UW built Quonset huts on Library Mall to meet the sudden lodging demands.

After the GIs graduated, the UW’s enrollment stabilized until their children, the Baby Boomers, came of age. Between 1960 and 1985, the student population soared from 18,811 to 45,050. The result of that growth was the massive, southwest expansion of the physical campus from which UW students still benefit today. Thanks, Boomers.

Published in the Fall 2025 issue