Enrollment among Michigan’s colleges and universities continues to incrementally increase, according to data compiled from fall 2023 to this fall.
Michigan as a state has seen a 1.8% total enrollment increase, according to numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released Wednesday, Oct. 23. This is slightly less than the 2.2% overall growth in the Midwest region, consisting of neighboring states such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
This marks three straight semesters of enrollment gains among all Michigan higher education institutions, including the fall 2023, spring 2024 and fall 2024 semesters.
The numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels, and overall freshman enrollment is down 5% from last year, the data shows. However, enrollment gains at community colleges and among graduate students is encouraging, the center’s Executive Director Doug Shapiro said in a statement.
“It is startling to see such a substantial drop in freshmen, the first decline since the start of the pandemic in 2020 when they plunged nearly 10%,” Shapiro said. “But the gains among students either continuing from last year or returning from prior stop outs are keeping overall undergraduate numbers growing, especially at community colleges, and that’s at least some good news for students and schools alike.”
A similar enrollment report from the Michigan Association of State Universities tracked just the gains made at the state’s 15 public universities. The total headcount of students increased by about 1,500 students, or less than 1%, to about 259,000 overall.
The association’s report also outlines how each of the 15 public universities performed individually. The largest percentage gained came at University of Michigan-Flint with 6.5%, or an increase of 399 students from fall 2023 to this semester.
The Flint campus saw a 25% decline in enrollment from fall 2014 to fall 2022, prompting leaders at the time to develop a new strategic plan.
The largest percentage decreases came at Lake Superior State at 6% and Eastern Michigan University at 5%, the data shows. The Ypsilanti university overall saw 689 fewer students from the previous fall. This is its 12th consecutive year with declines.
Eastern Michigan, despite the enrollment dips, managed to transform its campus over the summer with over a dozen projects, from new student apartments to athletic facility renovations. It also appeared on the Amazon show "The College Tour" earlier this month.
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Michigan State both saw gains of about 1.5%, though the Ann Arbor campus still has the largest student population in the state. Michigan Tech, Wayne State and Northern Michigan all saw increases of more than 1%.
Central Michigan and Western Michigan each saw gains of only a few dozen students each, the data shows.
This is encouraging compared to fall 2022 numbers. Enrollments at Michigan’s 15 public universities dropped 15% since the enrollment peak in 2011, a report in October 2022 showed.
This is mostly the product of a decreasing number of 18- to 22-year-olds and a slow decline in the percentage of high school graduates choosing to enroll in college.
A November 2022 report showed many Michigan universities and colleges are accepting more and more students from the shrinking pool of applicants.
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