Slippery Rock enrollment up 2.75% — its highest increase in 9 years

Slippery Rock University is experiencing record enrollment and retention rates this fall semester.

Total enrollment at the Butler County state college is 8,625 students, a 2.75% increase from last fall, according to the university. It’s Slippery Rock’s largest single-year increase in the past nine years.

There are 1,549 full-time, first-year undergraduate students, which is the largest number of those students at Slippery Rock since 2019.

“Slippery Rock is getting a well-deserved reputation for offering academic programs that are strongly aligned with careers needed in Western Pennsylvania,” said Michael May, Slippery Rock’s vice president for enrollment management.

May said Slippery Rock unveiled construction management and electrical and computer engineering majors, and a new nursing pathway undergraduate program this fall.

“We know nurses and engineers are in high demand,” May said. “Developing these types of programs are attracting these students to Slippery Rock.”

Top majors among this year’s freshman class include exercise science, early childhood and special education, biology and safety management, May said.

Twenty percent of Slippery Rock students are from Allegheny County; and 14% are from Butler County, according to the university.

Slippery Rock is part of the state’s system for higher education. A Pennsylvania full-time undergraduate student pays $7,994 for tuition this year.

Slippery Rock is also reporting its highest retention rate on record, with 86.4% of first-year students from last fall returning this year, according to the university. The national average is 77%.

Fifty-seven percent of Slippery Rock undergrad students are graduating in four years, which is the highest rate in five years.

May attributed those statistics to efforts in Slippery Rock’s career education and development office, and the university creating an Associate Provost for Academic Innovation position which aims to develop academic partnerships to meet area workforce needs.

While the majority of this fall’s growth is from traditional, college-aged students, Slippery Rock is collaborating with other institutions for partnerships to attract non-traditional college students. The university will soon launch a program with the Community College of Beaver County where students can train to become a pilot and obtain a four-year degree from Slippery Rock, May said.

Those initiatives will become more important as higher education experts project a “demographic cliff” tied to declining birth rates. Experts say the number of high school graduates in Pennsylvania is anticipated to drop 17% by 2041.

May said Slippery Rock will continue to offer undergraduate and graduate programs for in-demand careers and accelerated graduate programs.

“We’re up in a down market,” May said, “and the cliff is on the horizon.”