Efforts lead to fall 2015 enrollment increase

St. Cloud State University is one of Minnesota’s largest public universities. Photo by Adam Hammer ’05

St. Cloud State University experienced an increase in its enrollment headcount for fall 2015. According to MnSCU’s 30^th day enrollment report, St. Cloud State’s fall enrollment is 15,461, a modest 0.3 percent increase (28 students) from 2014.

This marks a stop to four years of declining enrollments that were a result of a changing market and echoed a national and regional trend in higher education.

“This year’s positives in our enrollment efforts are the result of the great work of our faculty and staff who remain committed to the success of our students and the University,” said Provost Ashish Vaidya. “We continue to invest in student recruitment and retention strategies to build strategic enrollment growth over time. Student recruitment and student success is everyone’s business.”

The enrollment increase was influenced by new undergraduate students, graduate student enrollment and high school students earning college credit through St. Cloud State (PSEO/Senior to Sophomore). First time student enrollment is up 10.7 percent from 2014. New entering transfer students is up 2 percent. New graduate student enrollment is up 2.8 percent.

This is the second consecutive fall semester that graduate student headcount has increased.

The University Honors Program accepted 159 new students, which is the largest number of new students ever admitted to the program.

In line with recent trending data supporting St. Cloud State’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity, students of color enrollment is up 5.8 percent from 2014. 16.4 percent of St. Cloud State’s student population are students of color.

St. Cloud State’s students of color enrollment has experienced consistent increases since fall 2005 when students of color were 5.4 percent of the university’s overall headcount.

International students increased 14.5 percent bringing the total to 1,172. The increase in international students also contributed to the graduate student increase. International students are more than 21 percent of the graduate student population.

St. Cloud State students represent more than 90 countries.

In fall 2010, St. Cloud State reached an all-time high in headcount enrollment with 18,319 students. The same is true for full-year equivalent enrollment (FYE) with fall 2010 being the highest recorded. Unlike headcount, FYE experienced a slight 0.4 percent decline this year. However, this continues to point to stabilizing enrollments for the university.

FYE differs from headcount because it is based on student credit hours. The difference in headcount and FYE is largely due to the increase in high school students earning college credit since these students, on average, take four credits per semester.

“Our work as a university continues to be focused on educating and graduating students,” Vaidya said. “One way we are adapting to create opportunities for students and help meet Minnesota’s workforce needs is by working with our academic programs on new program development, including certificate and non-degree programs.”

St. Cloud State served a total of 19,623 students during the 2014-15 academic year and conferred more than 3,000 degrees.

Fall 2015 enrollment by the numbers

Headcount: 15,461

Undergraduate: 13,629

Graduate: 1,832

Full-time: 9,820

Part-time: 5,641