08/21/2026
Edward Waters University (EWU) has recorded its highest fall enrollment in over two decades. Fall 2026 enrollment stands at 1,281 students. That is a 5.4% increase over last year and a 37.4% increase since Fall 2019. 674 new students joined the University this fall, an increase of 15.4%.
First time in college freshmen numbered 287. Transfer enrollment surged to 209, up 34.8%. New graduate enrollment reached 119, up 14.4%. We received more than 13,000 applications for the 2026-2027 academic year, and we retained 82.9% of students eligible to return from spring.
EWU is no longer a story about potential. It is a story about performance. In a national environment that has been unforgiving to institutions of our size and type, this University has grown, and grown again, while recording six consecutive operating surpluses, growing our endowment from $2.8 million to $8.6 million, and completing a full decennial SACSCOC reaffirmation of accreditation with zero recommendations.
This outcome belongs to a team. Under the leadership of Mr. Kendrick T. Dunklin, our Strategic Enrollment and Retention Team worked alongside Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Accounts, the Registrar, Academic Affairs, University College, Student Success, Athletics, and our Band and Choir programs. Nobody protected their territory. Everybody protected our students.
We are 39 students away from the highest enrollment on record in our 160-year history. We intend to break it.
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JACKSONVILLE, FL — Edward Waters University (EWU), Florida’s first private independent institution of higher learning and its first Historically Black College and University (HBCU), has recorded its highest fall enrollment in over two decades, extending a historic period of…