Enrollment at Maryland鈥檚 public colleges and universities continued to decline again this fall.
In fall 2021, there were nearly 165,000 students enrolled throughout the state. This year, there are 163,200 students enrolled, about a 1% drop, though it is a number that is about 1,300 higher than had been originally expected.
But at the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents meeting earlier this month, optimism was also expressed.
鈥淸For] the first time, full-time enrollment increased for the second year in a row,鈥� noted Ellen Fish, who is a regent at USM. In fact, there are 668 more [full-time] students compared with last year, and that number has USM leaders hopeful.
鈥淢ore freshmen now means more sophomores, more juniors in two years, more seniors in three years,鈥� said Chad Muntz, assistant vice chancellor for institutional research, data and analytics.
鈥淲e鈥檙e also seeing some of our community colleges are having more freshmen students,鈥� said Muntz. 鈥淭his is important to us. We鈥檝e seen a decline in Maryland community college transfers the last couple of years, and this is because they鈥檝e also experienced the same first-time student decreases.鈥�
The hope is that more of those students will transfer to four-year schools around the state. He noted that increases in unemployment rates also tend to correlate with higher enrollments.
Overall, only two schools have seen increased enrollment this year: University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
The bigger problem is keeping them enrolled through graduation, even at a time when the number of students graduating is up, too. That鈥檚 been hardest for the state鈥檚 first-generation college students, who tend to go to the smaller, regional campuses. Money is often cited as a reason for dropping out.
鈥淩ecovery is slower than losses,鈥� said Muntz. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to lose students 鈥� but we don鈥檛 recover the same number of students next year.
鈥淥ur plans, the ones that have worked best, have been slow, intentional increases over time to overcome the enrollment losses,鈥� he added.
