State universities see biggest enrollment drop in decades

East Stroudsburg, Kutztown among those reporting declines from last year

Pennsylvania’s state universities experienced their greatest percentage drop in enrollment in well over two decades.

The overall student count at the 14 universities now stands at 88,651, according to data released on Monday by the State System of Higher Education. That is down 5.4% from the prior year when it had 93,708 students and continues an enrollment decline for a 12th consecutive year.

Twelve of its universities experienced a decline in the number of students with only Cheyney and Mansfield universities, its two smallest schools, seeing increases of 2.39% and 0.61%, respectively, this year.

Indiana University, the second largest university in the system enrollment-wise, saw the greatest drop, losing 759 students from the prior year and is now down to 9,308 students. The largest university in the system, West Chester, lost 29 students and now has 17,640 students enrolled.

State System Chancellor Dan Greenstein said the enrollment drop likely has to do with pandemic-related reasons that finally caught up with the system universities that other colleges and universities experienced last year.

Last year, the system saw its overall enrollment decline 2.1% but statewide, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported the number of Pennsylvania college students dropped 3.8%.

“We didn’t have it last year,” the chancellor said. “We’re seeing it this year, though.”

Greenstein said anecdotally, he has heard the decline may be a result of families whose income was impacted by the pandemic as well as from students who are finding the $15 and $20 an hour wages now being offered by some companies too attractive to pass up.

“Obviously, they’re not longterm lasting kind of roles with limited mobility [for career growth] but you know there are all sorts of immediate economic benefits,” he said. But “given the students that we serve, I can understand.”

Greenstein considered it a positive that Mansfield and Cheyney experienced growth, attributing Mansfield’s to aggressive recruitment and Cheyney’s to the funding it has available for student aid.

But the overall context of how the system’s enrollment decline squares with what’s happening nationally won’t be known until those figures are available. Greenstein also said it isn’t clear what impact the forthcoming consolidation of six universities into two institutions next year had on this year’s enrollment.

Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities, which will form one university, saw a net decrease of 923 students, bringing their combined enrollments to 12,468. And California, Clarion and Edinboro universities, which will combine to form one institution, saw a net decline of 1,192 students, bringing their combined enrollment to 14,477 students.

“I don’t think anybody really knew what to expect as a result of the pandemic,” Greenstein said.

But he also acknowledged other factors are at play as well. More colleges and universities that the system competes with have moved to making college admissions test optional as well as private colleges offering deep discounts on their sticker price.

On top of that, Pennsylvania has more higher education seats focusing on traditional-age college students than the number of graduates high schools are turning out and will continue to produce in the foreseeable future.

Greenstein said an area that is showing growth at most system universities is in the graduate enrollments, which helps to offset some of the decline it is seeing in the traditional-age students.

The following is this year’s official headcount for each of the system universities with the percentage change from last year: Bloomsburg: 7,745, down 8.19% California: 6,512, down 5.42% Cheyney: 642, up 2.39% Clarion: 3,922, down 12.16% East Stroudsburg: 5,136, down 12.08%

Edinboro: 4,043, down 6.39% Indiana: 9,308, down 7.54% Kutztown: 7,675, down 2.75% Lock Haven: 2,920, down 7.68%

Mansfield: 1,803, up 0.61% Millersville: 7,213, down 3.76% Shippensburg: 5,668, down 7.54%

Slippery Rock: 8,424, down 5.09%

West Chester: 17,640, down 0.45%