Flint, MI — The University of Michigan-Flint has recorded an increase in fall enrollment for the first time since 2014.
The university’s 2023 fall enrollment consists of 4,751 undergraduate students and 1,379 graduate students, as compared to 4,609 undergrads and 1,376 graduate students last fall.
UM-Flint Interim Chancellor Donna Fry underscored the positive trend in the university’s announcement about the numbers, stating, “enrollment is the lifeblood of any university, and as such, we have many reasons to celebrate today’s news.”
In December 2022, the university set a goal of increasing its number of new and transfer students by 8% between fall 2022 and fall 2023. At the time, UM-Flint’s overall fall student headcount had decreased by almost 30.2% since 2014.
As part of reaching that enrollment goal, UM-Flint also announced a new program that guaranteed admission to eligible transfer students with certain associate degrees from a regionally accredited college or university.
The program seems to have paid off, as the number of new transfer students increased by 24% this fall.
While Fry celebrated the transfer news, she told Flint Beat UM-Flint’s focus on retaining students is of equal weight when considering enrollment numbers.
“We have seen our retention rates of students go up in the past few years,” Fry said. “That has come about by more proactive advising of students, some adjustments in how we do financial aid and other matters to help the students better while they’re here and enrolled with us.”
She also said the higher enrollment numbers for early college students, up 4%, and first-time-in-college students, up 2%, were significant for the university, too.
“It offers us the ability to take that student all the way through their college career,” Fry said, adding that overall increased enrollment is a “predictor of the future.”
“I think this really is the start of continued increase in enrollment,” she said. “And the more we enroll, the better it is for the city, the downtown, the students on campus.”