Leaders2Readers are brief messages from university leaders and others on campus to provide information and insight into various university initiatives, decisions, activities, challenges, etc. From enrollment, the budget and diversity, to campus improvements, cyber learning and fund-raising, the “Leaders2Readers” messages are designed for transparency and education, giving us all a better understanding of our university. Each message is distributed via the This Week @ YSU email and has contact names and email addresses for comments and feedback.
Enrollment outlook: Past, present, future
March 2, 2020
We thought we’d start this new series of messages on a topic often on the minds of folks in and around higher education: enrollment.
While there’s a myriad of factors to consider when it comes to running a university, managing enrollment is vital for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is our budget. Afterall, 70 percent of general fund revenue comes from tuition and fees paid by our students. More students generally mean more revenue.
Over the course of time, YSU’s enrollment has roller-coastered, declining in the 1990s, rebounding in first decade of the 2000s, falling again in the first five years of the 2010s. While it has mostly stabilized since, headcount for Fall 2019 was down 4.3 percent from Fall 2018, and that trend has continued into Spring 2020, down 4.6 percent from last spring.
Why? Well, the good news is that we have had much larger graduating classes in recent semesters. In addition, the six-year graduation rate has gone up, from 33.5 percent to 40.5 percent for the 2008 and 2013 cohorts, respectively. That’s certainly something worth celebrating! On the other hand, the more graduates, the more students who need replaced in the pipeline, and the number of prospective students at the front end of that pipeline continues to drop. In fact, high school graduate numbers in Ohio are expected to dip to about 110,000 by 2031, down nearly 20 percent from 2011. The pool is getting shallower.
Needless to say, the dip in enrollment leaves us with less revenue than budgeted. More on that in a subsequent “Leaders2Readers”. But for now, let’s remember the important role we all play in enrollment. Whether it’s a good word about YSU in the grocery aisle or helping a student maneuver through a problem on campus, we are the university’s greatest ambassadors. Be Y and Proud...
See you out on campus,
Eddie Howard, vice president, Student Affairs
Neal McNally, vice president, Finance and Business Operations