October 12, 2024

Ups and downs of state-wide college enrollment

Snow College, Southern Utah University, Utah Valley State College and Weber State University each saw substantial enrollment growth this fall while the five other institutions of higher education saw declines, including the College of Eastern Utah, reported the Utah System of Higher Education.

Snow College, Southern Utah University, Utah Valley State College and Weber State University each saw substantial enrollment growth this fall while the five other institutions of higher education saw declines, including the College of Eastern Utah, reported the Utah System of Higher Education.
System wide, higher education institutions during the third week of fall semester lost 1,422 students in headcount (the number of all students enrolled in at least one course) or 1.1 percent from last year and 963 or 1.04 percent in FTE (full-time equivalent that amounts to undergraduate students taking at least 15 credit hours and graduate students taking at least 10 credit hours).
CEU’s headcount dropped to 1,873, down 172 students. Its FTE dropped to 1,391, down 217 students.
The last time headcount enrollment was under 1,873 students was 20 years ago when CEU posted 1,708 headcount. CEU posted its highest headcount enrollment in 2001-02 with 3,245 students enrolled in at least once class.
CEU’s lowest FTE over the past 20 years was in 1989-90 when the enrollment hit 1,170 students. It’s highest FTE enrollment came in 1997-98 with 2,140 full time students enrolled.
Losing the most students in Utah’s higher education system was Dixie State College, who went to four-year status this year. It dropped 1,020 headcount to 5,339 students who were enrolled in at least one class. Its FTE dropped 340 to 3,879 students.
Salt Lake Community College dropped 745 headcount students to 23,822 and 249 FTE students to 13,694.
The University of Utah dropped 460 headcount students to 28,293 and 386 FTE students to 23,555.
Utah State University dropped 122 headcount to 21,222 and 84 FTE students to 15,539.
Colleges with expanding enrollments included UVSC who added 426 headcount to make its numbers 20,262. One hundred and forty six more full-time students made its FTE numbers sit at 13,694.
WSU saw the next largest increase with 333 headcount, 17,290 total. Its FTE went up 126 to 11,739.
SUU posted 202 additional headcount to make their institution sit at 6,108 students. FTE students added 277 to its numbers, with 5,351 students taking 15 or more credit hours.
Snow College added 136 to its headcount which helps it sit at 3,544 students taking at least one class and 17 to its FTE which helps it sit at 2,676 students.