'First growth as a university since 2012.' What we know about Kent State's enrollment
Kent State University’s freshman enrollment is slightly lower than it was last year, but university officials are still optimistic about the growth the school is experiencing in other areas.
The Kent State University Board of Trustees reviewed the enrollment numbers for this fall during Wednesday's board meeting.
Overall enrollment at the main campus and total system enrollment — including regional campuses — increased this fall compared to last year.
The incoming freshman class is the most diverse in the university’s history, and the number of international students on campus has increased.
Here’s what we know about this year’s enrollment numbers at KSU.
Enrollment increases slightly at Kent State main campus, systemwide
Kent main campus enrollment this fall is 25,283, a gain of more than 200 students from last year, representing a 0.8% increase.
“We’ve been working towards stabilization,” University Vice President of Enrollment Management Sean Broghammer said. “This is our first growth on the Kent campus since 2016, our first growth as a university system since 2012. So, we do feel good about the stabilization we’ve experienced.”
The university’s regional campuses reported 8,247 students, bringing the total number enrolled in the system to 33,530 — an increase of 321 students (or 1%) from year.
Broghammer said the regional campuses enrollment is stabilizing after two years of decline.
Enrollment at the Stark campus this fall is 2,311, which is down 129 students (or 5.6%) compared to last year.
Kent State also has regional campuses in Ashtabula, East Liverpool and Geauga, Salem, Trumbull and Tuscarawas counties.
What the numbers say about this year's Kent State freshman class
According to data provided by university officials, Kent State's incoming Class of 2027 on the main campus is smaller than last year’s freshman class at 4,226 new first-year students, a difference of 25 students.
Students identifying as underrepresented account for 20% of the freshman class, with 33% being the first in their family to go to college.
Eighty-eight of these new students are first-year undergraduates international students.
Roughly 80% of the Class of 2027 on the Kent campus are from Ohio.
How do these numbers compare to pre-pandemic enrollment?
Broghammer said that in terms of new freshman, the university has almost returned to pre-pandemic numbers.
First-year student retention is returning to pre-pandemic levels as well.
Kent campus and regional campus retention rates are at 79.7% and 56.6%, respectively. For context, Kent campus retention was just over 80% before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ideally, Broghammer said, the university would like to see 82% of first-year students on the main campus returning for a second year.
“We’re working towards that,” he said. “During the pandemic we did drop to about 78.5%, so we did see a nice positive gain this year.”
Where is the university experiencing growth?
At Wednesday's KSU Board of Trustees meeting, Trustee Robert Frost said that the College of Aeronautics and Engineering and the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship have experienced strong enrollment growth, among others.
“We saw outstanding growth in our international graduate student population,” Frost said, “about 429 students and topping 2,000 students for the first time since 2017.”
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State University enrollment beginning to stabilize
