Data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a research center based in Herndon, Virginia, shows that undergraduate enrollment grew 2.1% nationwide in the fall of 2023. It was the first growth since the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, despite the growth in undergraduate enrollment, freshman enrollment declined 3.6%, reversing gains made during the fall of 2022.

Enrollment data from several universities across Ohio, including some in the Mahoning Valley, show similar trends.

YOUNGSTOWN

STATE UNIVERSITY

Youngstown State University has seen its undergraduate enrollment during fall semesters steadily decline over the past several years.

According to fall enrollment summaries, YSU reported a total undergraduate enrollment of 11,531 in 2018, 11,006 in 2019, 10,470 in 2020, 9,447 in 2021, 8,920 in 2022 and 8,492 during the most recent semester.

Undergraduate enrollment has declined more than 26% during the last five years, according to the fall enrollment 14th-day summaries.

In terms of first-time undergraduates, which YSU documents describe as “degree-seeking students enrolled in higher education for the first time after high school graduation,” the university’s numbers stabilized after consistent decreases since 2018.

According to preliminary enrollment summaries for fall semesters, YSU saw 2,223 first-time undergraduates in 2018, 1,939 in 2019, 1,784 in 2020, 1,586 in 2021, 1,562 in 2022 and 1,577 during the most recent semester, the first increase from fall to fall over the five-year period.

Michael Sherman, vice president of Student Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness, and Board Professional, said lower enrollment numbers could be partly because of the number of higher-education opportunities available in the state.

“We’re the fifth-most densely populated state in the country when it comes to the number of higher-education institutions per population count,” Sherman said. “Pennsylvania is in the top 10 as well. We’re all densely populated with post-secondary education opportunities, so with that level of density and people coming out of high school at gradually decreasing numbers, it’s really a competitive market.”

Elaine Ruse, associate vice president for Student Enrollment and Business Services at YSU, said increases in international students and graduate students have helped offset fewer first-time undergraduates and freshmen.

“What definitely assisted us was the increase we’ve had in the number of new international students,” Ruse said. “That kind of helped level out where you see the local area simply not having as many students available, graduating from high school, where we tend to draw from.”

Ruse also pointed out how freshmen students at YSU have been performing at a high level in recent years. She said the fall grade-point average for freshmen was 3.51, just shy of the highest new undergraduate GPA in university history of 3.52, which came the year before.

“The impressive academic quality of our new undergraduate students continues to be a point of pride,” she said.

Sherman said the university is working to develop plans to increase enrollment while also keeping those students at the university.

“We’ve indicated with the board … that we are going to come up with an enrollment strategy that gives us targets because we know the markets that are our targets,” Sherman said.

“We’re just starting this market share strategy, we really don’t know enough quite yet what our target numbers are… We’re also going to integrate not only getting them here but keeping them here, into one thing. We want them to come here because we’re a choice place and have them realize they made the right decision.”

KENT TRUMBULL

Kent State University’s Trumbull County campus bucked the national trends as it saw increases in both undergraduate and freshmen enrollment this past semester.

But when looking at enrollment numbers at KSU at Trumbull over the last five fall semesters, the university is behind where it was in 2018, along with where it was in 2020 when it hit peak numbers in both categories.

According to the university’s 15th-day enrollment summaries, KSU Trumbull enrolled 2,244 undergraduate students in the fall of 2018, 2,155 in 2019, 2,290 in 2020, 2,066 in 2021, 1,732 in 2022 and 2,028 in 2023.

Undergraduate enrollment at Kent Trumbull is down 9.6% compared to 2018 numbers but up 17% from last fall.

Freshman enrollment statistics paint a similar picture.

According to the enrollment summaries, Kent Trumbull had 585 freshmen in 2018, 542 in 2019, 629 in 2020, 496 in 2021, 411 in 2022 and 503 during this past semester.

Freshman enrollment at Kent Trumbull during fall semesters is down 14% in 2023 compared to 2018 numbers. But, freshman enrollment at the regional branch is up over 22% from last fall.

KSU has eight regional branches in Ohio.

R. William Ayres IV, Ph.D, dean and chief administrative officer at Kent Trumbull, said all regional campuses suffered lower enrollment rates during the past several years. He said recent increases, including at the Trumbull branch, are a good sign.

“The regional campuses in particular saw a very significant decline in the immediate years of the (COVID-19) pandemic,” Ayres said. “We’re very happy to be up a little bit this year because the last couple of years have just been brutal.”

Ayres said overall enrollment was hit hard at the regional branches during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the type of individuals who attend those campuses.

“The pandemic really knocked a lot of folks out, particularly the kinds of students that institutions like Kent State Trumbull or Kent State Salem serve,” Ayres said. “These are students who are generally working jobs, many of them work full time or close to it.”

Ayres said increases in freshman and total enrollment are a good indication, but that KSU tends to consider the progress of its regional system as a whole as compared to a branch-by-branch basis.

“It certainly is a good indication,’ he said. “But increasingly, we have been looking at enrollment across the regional campus system. We look at the campus-by-campus figures, but the reality is that a large percentage of our students are taking courses from more than one campus.”

When a student is taking classes at more than one regional campus, Ayres said Kent officials refer to it as a “swirl.”

“As a whole, we’re up (in enrollment) slightly. We anticipate based on the number of students who are in the area high schools across northeast Ohio in the communities we serve, we know that next year will probably be flat. We might be up a little. But after that, that number is going to start going down.”

Ayres said the current upward swing of Kent Trumbull and other regional campuses based on enrollment numbers will provide temporary relief.

“We don’t think that this is a long-term trend. This is some breathing space for a couple of years,” Ayres said. “We’re trying to make changes and adjustments to take advantage of that breathing space so we’re prepared when that downward pressure resumes.”

KENT STATE

MAIN CAMPUS

Though it has maintained a steady decline in undergraduates, the main branch of KSU, which enrolled 485 students from Trumbull County and 392 from Mahoning County during the fall semester, saw its first increase in that category in several years.

According to the university’s enrollment summaries, Kent State enrolled 22,557 undergraduates in the fall of 2018, 22,262 in 2019, 21,621 in 2020, 21,133 in 2021, 20,418 in 2022 and 20,485 this most recent semester.

Undergraduate enrollment is down 9% at KSU in 2023 compared to 2018, but it is up 0.33% from last fall.

Freshman enrollment has improved at the university over the past two years after facing declines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the enrollment summaries, KSU had 5,292 freshmen enrolled during the fall 2018 semester, 5,095 in 2019, 4,763 in 2020, 4,991 in 2021, 5,223 in 2022 and 5,162 during the most recent semester.

Freshman enrollment at KSU is down 2.46% in 2023 compared to 2018, and it is down just over 1% compared to last fall.

“Two primary factors really go into what the university’s enrollment is,” Collin Palmer, associate vice president of Enrollment Management and Admissions at KSU main branch, said. “That is new student enrollment; those who are first-time students at Kent State, freshmen, transfers, graduate students, international students; those that we recruit as new students to the university. The other component of that is how well we retain the students who are already here.

“What you’re seeing in the total university enrollment increase at Kent State is increases in both of those things.”

Palmer said the university had been intentional in supporting enrollment at KSU. He pointed to the “Flashes go Further” program, which is the university’s commitment to making itself affordable to students across Ohio.

“Students with different incomes that might be below a certain income threshold, the university has need-based aid to help support their tuition expenses at Kent,” he said.

Palmer also noted that the university has been seeing more interest grow from individuals outside of Ohio. He said the college has been seeing more students from western Pennsylvania enroll at KSU in recent years.