Early enrollment numbers show Ohio colleges are holding steady. Is this a rebound?

Enrollment at many colleges in central Ohio and around the state held steady this fall, with a few schools seeing meaningful increases, according to institutional data.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported this spring that college enrollment appeared to be stabilizing following two years of uncertainty during the pandemic. While new national data on college enrollment won't be released until later this fall, local university leaders and national experts say early numbers are a sign of a possible rebound.

Higher education: How did Ohio colleges, universities rank using U.S. News' new metrics? Here's a look

How many students enrolled at Columbus-area colleges and universities?

Ohio State University reported 60,046 students enrolled at its Columbus campus and 65,405 students enrolled universitywide. That's a difference of about 500 fewer students enrolled at its main campus compared to last fall, a 0.8% decrease.

Following record-high enrollment in 2021, Ohio State said small decreases "reflect stability" following the uncertainty many schools felt due to the pandemic.

Ohio State's five regional campuses, however, collectively saw a 2% increase in overall enrollment and a nearly 15% increase in new freshmen enrollment. The greatest gains were at its Newark and Mansfield campuses, which saw 21% and 15% increases respectively.

“With a focus on affordability, accessibility and service to all Ohioans, we have worked with partners across all of our campuses to create opportunities for students to attend Ohio State,” said James Orr, vice provost for strategic enrollment management.

Most other Greater Columbus universities, especially private liberal arts schools, saw similar slight enrollment changes this fall.

Denison University and Ohio Wesleyan University saw overall enrollment increase 2% and 3%, respectively. Meanwhile, Ohio Dominican University saw a 1% decrease, Otterbein University reported a 4% decrease and Capital University saw a 10% dip in overall enrollment.

ODU spokesman Tom Brockman said a 30% increase in freshman enrollment over the last two years offset two smaller classes that enrolled during the pandemic.

"As those classes graduate in the next year or two," Brockman said, "and we welcome additional strong classes, we anticipate that growth to be reflected in our overall enrollment."

The two Greater Columbus area schools with the greatest gains were Columbus State Community College and Franklin University.

Columbus State enrolled 26,843 students this fall, an increase of 1,571 or about 6%. Franklin University, now the area's largest private university, has enrolled 8,136 students to date. That's 546 more students, or a 7% increase, from last fall.

More: Columbus State Community College is creating a pipeline to Intel. Here's how.

Public universities statewide mostly saw growth

Ohio's public universities saw steady enrollment numbers, with one major exception.

While most of the state's 19 public universities saw marginal decreases or modest increases to enrollment, the University of Cincinnati reported a record-breaking milestone. UC enrolled 50,921 students for the fall semester across its three campuses.

At its main campus, UC enrolled 43,634 students, a more than 5% increase over last fall. Regional campuses in Blue Ash and Clermont also reported strong enrollment gains — increases of 6% and 20% respectively.

Ohio University also saw another year of growth after a major drop in its undergraduate enrollment for several years before the pandemic. It enrolled 17,655 total students this fall, up from 16,879 last year, a nearly 5% increase.

Bowling Green State University (18,966 students), Kent State University (20,485 students) and the University of Akron (13,633) all saw slight increases in enrollment. Miami University, like Ohio State, for the second year in a row saw a slight dip in students following record-high enrollment in 2021. It enrolled 18,618 total students, down about 3% from last fall.

Why are some experts optimistic about college enrollment?

Experts say there are a few reasons why colleges and students can feel some optimism with this fall's enrollment figures.

Nate Johnson — a researcher and policy analyst whose Florida-based firm, Postsecondary Analytics, specializes in higher education policy, funding and student success issues — said he's heard from a number of clients so far this semester that enrollment is looking up.

"Anecdotally, there seems to be a different mood," Johnson said. "My only caution is there's always the risk that early numbers look better. But it does seem like a number of stories across the country seem to be positive."

The pandemic made higher education an unpredictable space for multiple school years, he said. So with more stability across the industry, Johnson said "some kind of bounce back is not surprising."

Johnson likened more students returning to campus to the surge in "revenge travel" post-widespread COVID restrictions that the tourism industry experienced over the last year.

Michael Nietzel has a similar cautious optimism. Nietzel, president emeritus of Missouri State University and a higher education policy advisor, said a few factors contribute to this confidence.

One reason is college applications.

Data published by the Common Application this spring showed a sizable increase in the number of students applying to four-year colleges for this academic year.

Through March 1, more than 1.24 million distinct first-year applicants applied to 841 colleges participating in the Common App. That's a 21% increase from the 2019-20 admissions cycle (the last year unaffected by the pandemic) when nearly 1.03 million students applied. More than 70,000 students applied during this admissions cycle than at the same time the prior year.

Total applications, which includes multiple applications made by students, increased by 30%, from 5.43 million in 2019-2020 to nearly 7.06 million in this current cycle.

Nietzel said another encouraging sign was enrollment increases at community colleges, which have been some of the hardest-hit schools during the pandemic. Enrollment at public two-year colleges dropped from 7 million in fall 2010 to about 4.5 million in fall 2022, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Typically, in poor economies when unemployment is high, community college enrollment increases. Johnson said that hasn't entirely been the case over the last few years.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's spring enrollment report showed the beginnings of enrollment leveling off at the undergraduate level. Some of that was attributed to community college enrolling nationally increasing ever so slightly, up about 22,000 students compared to spring 2022.

While only about half a percent increase, Nietzel said it's still a positive sign that students of all ages are beginning to return to the classroom.

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Are Ohio colleges seeing an enrollment rebound? Experts are hopeful