Fall 2023 Enrollments

[ProfessorM]

My university is in crisis and an enrollment drop (plus likely mismanagement by the upper admin) is driving a major budget shortfall. That said, I'm at a regional campus, and our enrollment has held steady.

[MarathonRunner]

My undergrad alma mater has rented out a hotel for the next year as an extra residence, as they guarantee residence for all first year students. The last time they had to do that was the double cohort (back when Ontario eliminated grade 13, so there were two cohorts of students, the grad 12s and the grade 13s graduating the same year, so also more university applications for Ontario students). So, no issues with enrolment. Plenty of upper years struggling to find housing, though, with rents increasing pretty much everywhere. Granted, Canada is very different from the U.S. - we have far fewer private universities and most students attend public universities if they choose to go to university.

[apl68]

Just saw an article in the local paper to the effect that our region's closest four-year college has seen its freshman enrollment grow by 26% over last year.  They're also up in terms of transfer students, and have a noticeable increase in on-campus residential students. 

Talk about bucking the trend!  The article touted the fact that they are about the cheapest college in the state, which is true enough.  The school spokesperson did not mention that they also have very wide-open admissions standards.  Wonder how well they'll be able to hold onto that bumper crop of freshmen? 

I wish them well.  Open-enrollment though they may be, they do fill an important niche in the region.

[lightning]

holding steady here again. 10-year trend shows gradual increase in enrolled students, over time. Honestly, we don't have the infrastructure to support too many more traditional on-campus students.

[apl68]

I saw yesterday that the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has also seen an increase in enrollment.  Not as surprising, I guess, since they're the state's flagship school.

[MarathonRunner]

The university I'm at for my postdoc has so many students that there are far too many without housing, even though the semester began this past Tuesday. It's crazy. In almost every province, there is a shortage of housing for students. Most universities only guarantee residence on campus for first years, and some can't even do that any longer due to the increase in the number of first year students. Off campus housing is hard to find, expensive , and sadly prone to exploitation and scams. So the Canadian universities I'm familiar with have increasing enrolment, although some only have those increases due to international students. My UG alma mater is one uni that used to guarantee residence for all first year students. Now it's a lottery, as there are more first year students than residence beds.

Glad I'm a postdoc and not a first year student. Housing has become insane in the past several years.

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Boosting Enrollment Against the Odds

[apl68]

I've learned that Alma Mater has also seen a substantial increase in freshman enrollment.  It looks like it's a real trend across the state.  I guess students are to at least some extent starting to get back into higher education after the pandemic-era slump.

[secundem_artem]

We just got our numbers.  Not looking good.  Expecting some unpleasant directives coming from on high.

[GuyRien]

Highly dependent on area: geographic and discipline In Engineering, it's crazy, the majors are all impacted. Being in CA it's always crazy. Some places like Cal Poly SLO have EVERY major impacted. The students already there find it hard to change majors.

[Hibush]

I saw yesterday that the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has also seen an increase in enrollment.  Not as surprising, I guess, since they're the state's flagship school.

That is three years in a row of substantial increase! Last year, undergrad enrolment was 15,479 in state, 15,457 out of state, and 1,144 international. So not only is the university outcompeting other state schools for Arkansas students, it draws extremely well from other states. (A colleague there says admissions acts as if they are a Texas university.)

That campus has figured out how to be one of the "haves" that is thriving. I hope that translates to good facilities and a fair deal for faculty.

[Wahoo Redux]

News is muddied by differences of opinion among board members / admincritters. 

By FTE alone my old school / wife's school is down only 79 students this semester----tuition is cheap here, so that's only $400K + FTE support.  It hurts, of course, but not nearly as much as past semesters.

However, for reasons unknown, one of the mysterious VPs-of-student-success-something-something-something puts the headcount much lower be eliminating all part-time students from the equation.  Why the VP wants to do this is open for discussion; presumably he wants to cut more positions in the near future and is unhappy that the numbers are not worse, at least that is the theory. 

[apl68]

I visited Alma Mater's campus briefly on Saturday.  Looked like it was hopping with activity.  It was good to see.

[Parasaurolophus]

Enrollments are very high at the moment, but tensions with India may spell trouble for the winter or summer.

[secundem_artem]

We just got our numbers.  Not looking good.  Expecting some unpleasant directives coming from on high.

It's official.  The knives are out and blood will flow.  The time of crying, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments is upon us.