YSU says it has 'stemmed the tide' on enrollment decline

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University’s enrollment picture is taking a turn for the better, according to student counts for fall semester released Thursday.

Though overall enrollment has dropped more than 4 percent on average in each of the previous four years, this fall’s enrollment is down only 0.7 percent.

The number of students on campus stands at 12,471, down 85 from 12,556 last year, according to official counts recorded Thursday on the 15th day of the semester. Last year, overall enrollment was down 6.3 percent.

“We have stemmed the tide, stabilized enrollment, are seeing some very positive numbers in some important categories and fully expect our numbers to begin to increase as early as next semester,” said Gary Swegan, associate vice president for Enrollment Planning and Management.

Among the positive indicators, the university noted:

The number of freshmen is up 247 from last year, or 13.5 percent. By comparison, the number of freshmen decreased 110, or 5 percent, in 2013, and 288, or 13.6 percent, in 2014.

The number of new students – which includes freshmen, transfer, graduate and dual enrollment – is up 601 students from last year, or 20 percent.

The freshman-to-sophomore retention rate this year also is up significantly, from 67 percent to 73.2 percent.

For the second-consecutive year, the freshman class has set all-time highs for average ACT scores (21.19) and high school grade-point average (3.14).

The university also reported that the freshmen class includes increased numbers of out-of-state students (+64 percent), minority students (+42 percent) and honors students (+82 percent). The class includes students from 421 high schools (up from 303 last year) and 54 counties (up from 37 last year).

In addition, applications for fall 2016 already are trending much higher than this time last year.

“We have built what we believe to be a sustainable infrastructure for enrollment management that will result in increased numbers of students attending YSU in the years ahead,” Swegan said.