After multiple consecutive semesters of enrollment declines, Michigan colleges saw stabilized numbers in fall 2022.
Michigan colleges across all sectors dropped less than 1% in total enrollment from fall 2021 to last fall, according to a report by National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released on Thursday, Feb. 2.
At just half a percent decline, Michigan as a state performed better than the 1.1% average decline among the Midwest region, which goes as far northwest as North Dakota, southwest as Kansas and east as Ohio.
Enrollment had dropped at least 2% each fall semester since 2017 at Michigan’s higher education institutions until last fall, the report shows. The fall 2020 semester during the COVID-19 pandemic saw the biggest enrollment drop at 9%.
Public four-year universities were the only sector last fall that grew with a 2.8% bump in enrollment, compared to fall 2021, or a total of more than 7,000 new students.
Community colleges, identified as public two-year colleges in the report, saw the starkest decline at 4.9%, or a total of about 6,000 students. Private four-year colleges saw 1,855 less students, representing a 3.5% decrease.
Michigan’s neighboring states saw varying results last fall. There was a 1.5% bump in Indiana, while there was a 1.5% drop in Ohio. Minnesota colleges overall performed the worst in the Midwest region with a 4.1% decline, which represents more than 11,000 less students since fall 2021.
The NSCRC numbers are more optimistic than their original fall 2022 estimates. The organization originally reported overall enrollment at Michigan universities and colleges fell 4.1% from fall 2021 to last fall.
Read more: Michigan’s declining college enrollment trend continues with poor fall 2022 showing
The NSCRC is encouraged by the signs that enrollment is recovering with the arrival of new freshmen students, said Executive Director Doug Shapiro.
“Although freshmen classes are still well below pre-pandemic levels, especially at community colleges, the fact that they are swinging upward in all sectors is a positive indicator for the future,” he said.
Michigan’s 15 public universities have seen enrollments drop 15% since the enrollment peak in 2011, a report in October showed. That’s more than 45,000 students, which would have been enough to empty out Lake Superior State University, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan University, the University of Michigan’s Flint and Dearborn campuses and Ferris State University.
The tuitions at Michigan’s 15 public universities also have spiked as state government support has dwindled in the last decade. All of them are also dealing with a dwindling pool of traditional college-age students, though University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University have seen positive growth.
A November report showed that many Michigan universities and colleges are accepting more and more students from the shrinking pool of applicants.
Read more from MLive:
Tuition increases, falling enrollment, staff cuts: Data on Michigan’s public universities
With enrollments down, most of Michigan’s public universities admitted almost everybody
Michigan’s public universities have lost 45,000 students since 2011. It’s about to get worse.
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