Academic Affairs Enrollment Update – July 18, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your continued support of our enrollment efforts. We have about five weeks until the start of the Fall 2023 semester. Here are the latest updates:

Undergraduate Enrollment

We have seen gains in new undergraduate enrollment as students make their way through the orientation and advising processes. Enrollment of new First-Time-in-College students is still slightly behind last year at this time but students are registered for more credit hours on average, an indication that they are getting complete schedules through the updated onboarding process for new students.

• More than 840 new first-year and transfer students are registered for an upcoming New Student Orientation session and students continue to make reservations daily. Ensuring that students attend and make their way through the August sessions will be critical to meeting enrollment goals.
• Advising teams in the academic colleges report that more than 800 students are scheduled for appointments in the coming weeks and students continue to make advising appointments daily. Please continue to prioritize advising for new students.
• The transfer application is now closed for fall, but Undergraduate Admissions continues to prioritize transfer decisions as applicants submit their required documents. The transfer teams in the Undergraduate Admissions office and the Office of the Registrar are working together to review and articulate transfer credit as quickly as possible.

Continuing undergraduate enrollment is strong with signs of increased retention of first, second and third year students. Strong retention is critical to our overall enrollment efforts and, more importantly, it’s a signal that our students are successful.Please reach out to eligible students who have not registered for the fall and encourage them to seek assistance if needed. While advisors continue their non-registered outreach, a message from the academic department may get more attention at this stage.

Graduate Enrollment

Overall graduate enrollment continues to run ahead of this time last year with an increase of 290 students, although that count continues to shrink as we get closer to the first day of class. The increase (+163) in new in-state master’s enrollment primarily stems from distance education programs. We are also seeing significant increases (+43) in new doctoral students, primarily international, and new certificate (+92) and post-master’s certificate (+35) students. The total new student enrollment increase of 380 students is offset by 90 fewer continuing students.

Graduate Admissions staff continues outreach to all eligible but not registered students to encourage them to enroll. But with the first day of class about a month away, we encourage graduate program directors and affiliated staff, as well as faculty advisors, to connect directly with the 602 new and 1,222 continuing students who are eligible to enroll this fall but have not yet done so. An email or telephone call from a faculty or staff member in the academic program is a powerful incentive for students to begin or continue their enrollment, and graduate program directors are emailed the lists of their eligible but not registered students every Monday. As a reminder, if students have decided NOT to enroll, please communicate that information directly to Maryanne Maree-Sams or Ellie Ivey in the Graduate School.

You can view the latest reports here. These reports reflect new enrollment (tab 1) and total enrollment (tab 2) by department or program compared to the equivalent date last year.

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly to Claire Kirby, associate provost of enrollment management, or Johnna Watson, associate dean for graduate enrollment management and funding.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Troyer
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs