Pitt enrollment rises almost 7% amid ongoing pandemic
Despite the pandemic and resulting economic fallout, firstyear enrollment on the University of Pittsburgh main campus grew by nearly 7% this fall, beating targets, though graduate enrollment is off, largely given a 17% drop in international students.
Pitt’s regional campuses also saw student losses.
Chancellor Patrick Gallagher shared preliminary numbers as Pitt’s board of trustees met remotely Friday morning. In a year when higher education has braced for tumultuous fall numbers
— thanks in large part to many students taking a semester off rather than paying full tuition for remote instruction — Mr. Gallagher said there were positives about the data and that Pitt was in line with national trends.
Also Friday, the head of a trustee panel said the group intends by mid- January to submit a report to the full board on “whether, to what extent and by what methods” trustees should
consider divestment of fossil fuel holdings from Pitt’s approximately $ 4.3 billion endowment.
Trustee Dawne Hickton summarized the committee’s work since its initial meeting in August and detailed its plans to follow a condensed schedule of deliberations to present recommendations to the full board by Jan. 15.
Students and activists for months have urged Pitt’s board to join trustees at other major universities that have shifted investments away from fossil fuels. In February, Pitt’s board passed a resolution supporting a university plan to become carbon neutral by 2037.
That same month, members of Fossil Free Pitt — a coalition of individual students, campus groups and others — staged a multiday sit- in on the floor of the main lobby of Pitt’s 42- story Cathedral of Learning, one of the group’s most visible showings in a lengthy campaign to prod the university on the issue.
In his report to the board Friday, Mr. Gallagher said preliminary enrollment data for fall 2020 contained positive news for a university that, like its peers, has braced for seismic shifts in enrollment due to the COVID- 19 pandemic and economic impacts including millions of lost jobs nationwide.
Pitt officials had a target of 4,255 freshmen but instead enrolled 4,307 — a nearly 7% increase over last year’s 4,040 first- year students, including gains of about 17% and 15% respectively in minority students and in students needy enough to qualify for federal Pell Grants. The average GPA for the group was about 4.1, a nearly 1% increase.
But graduate enrollment was down by nearly 2%, driven largely by a 17% drop in international students, from 2,202 last fall to 1,828 as of this week, according to Pitt’s data.
Mr. Gallagher said the trends in some respects were reassuring, but he also said those most hard- pressed financially face tougher challenges due to COVID- 19 and related impacts.
“Some of our most vulnerable students are bearing the brunt,” he said.
Pitt enrolls about 34,000 students, all but about 5,000 of those on its main Oakland campus. The school also operates branches in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville.
Mr. Gallagher, during his presentation, noted that there are financial impacts running into the tens of millions of dollars from the pandemic and associated costs, including investments to provide a hybrid of in- person and online courses that can adapt depending on virus threat levels. He said the impacts may well be felt on Pitt’s budget for years.
Pitt board members also reviewed a decision by the property and facilities committee to commit up to $ 6 million toward creation of a community engagement center in the Hill District, as well as related work on a renovation and addition involving the historic New Grenada Theater on Centre Avenue.