Enrollment dropped by 600 students at state-owned universities in Western Pennsylvania this fall

Enrollment at state-owned universities in Western Pennsylvania dropped by more than 600 students this fall compared to last year, even though one of the region’s three institutions saw growth for a third straight year.

That school, Slippery Rock University, registered a headcount increase of 32 students to 8,394, up from 8,362 in fall 2023. But the gain of less than a percentage point was offset by losses at Pennsylvania Western University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

PennWest numbers declined by 471 students, or 4.1%, to 10,834 across its California, Clarion and Edinboro campuses. IUP saw its total enrollment decline by 1.9%, or 173 students. That’s 9,081 students compared to 9,254 in fall 2023.

With the release of data Wednesday by IUP — the last of the region’s state schools to report — it’s apparent that if the State System of Higher Education expects an overall enrollment gain this fall across the commonwealth, it must come from the other seven member universities to the east.

Those numbers are due out this month.

Nevertheless, PennWest and IUP leaders found cause for optimism in this year’s numbers, which suggest more students are persisting toward degrees, and that both graduate and online enrollment are rising.

At PennWest, for instance, new graduate and online enrollment increased by 9.4% and 9.5%, respectively. In fact, enrollment online now equals 38% of total in-person enrollment across the California, Clarion and Edinboro campuses.

Retention of first-year to second-year students improved for a second year to nearly 72%. The total PennWest enrollment loss by percentage was less than half last year’s 11.5% decline.

“More students are choosing to pursue advanced degrees at PennWest, and the overall experience at our campuses is attracting students who are staying enrolled,” said PennWest President Jon Anderson in a statement.

The PennWest breakdown by campus is:

California — 2,717 (Fall 24), 2981 (Fall 23); Clarion — 1,743 (Fall 24), 2,034 (Fall 23); Edinboro — 2,259 (Fall 24), 2,532 (Fall 23); and online — 4,115 (Fall 24), 3,758 (Fall 23).

At IUP, following a nearly 5% increase in overall student enrollment for fall 2023, retention of new, first-time, full-time, bachelor’s degree-seeking students from fall 2023 to fall 2024 has climbed to 75.3%. It’s a more than 4 percentage-point increase from fall 2022 to fall 2023.

“One of my presidential goals is that IUP becomes so adept at student-centeredness that we keep every student who comes to IUP,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said. “While we are not there yet, these increases in retention in the spring and fall semesters show that we are on the right track.”

For more than a decade, slumping high school graduate numbers, rising tuition costs and student debt fears have depressed college admission numbers, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Of late, a strong job market out of high school and doubts about the value of a bachelor’s degree have added to those pressures.

State System enrollment that totaled nearly 120,000 students in 2010 stood at approximately 83,000 as of fall 2023.

On top of that, the deeply flawed rollout of the federal form required for financial aid, the FAFSA, suppressed the number of students who applied for aid this fall. Driscoll called it “a debacle” in remarks to campus in August and said it made it harder to predict who would fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and enroll.

“Consequently, the number of new students who have deposited and registered for this year has been behind last year’s pace, although the gap has been closing,” Driscoll said. “Demographics suggested increased enrollment this year, but because of the FAFSA issue, we cannot confidently expect our total headcount to be higher than last year.”

IUP, like other State System schools, is also placing greater emphasis on dual-enrolled high school students as an admissions strategy.

State System officials say they hope efforts to slow price increases will help rebuild student numbers. Six consecutive votes by the State System board of governors to freeze tuition have left the yearly in-state rate at $7,716, unchanged from 2018-19.

At Slippery Rock, 84% of first-year students returned this fall, a retention record for the university and 10% above the national average.

“We are pleased to see that SRU education continues to be in high demand and our students are succeeding when they get here,” said Michael May, SRU’s vice president for enrollment management. “Our record first-to-second-year retention rate is exciting because it confirms how dedicated our students, faculty and support staff are to SRU and achieving positive outcomes.”

Exercise science was listed as the top major this year at Slippery Rock, followed by safety management and psychology. At PennWest, nursing was the top undergraduate program, followed by early childhood and elementary education and psychology.

In addition to the Western Pennsylvania campuses, the system universities include Cheyney, Commonwealth University, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.