By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
BGSU is continuing to experience growing enrollment.
Based on official census numbers submitted to the state this week, BGSU’s total headcount on the main campus is 18,793, up from 18,124 at the same time last year.
This shows that the university has now fully regained the momentum it had before the COVID-19 pandemic, said Cecilia Castellano, vice president for enrollment management.
“We’re really becoming a school of choice, a school of preference,” Castellano said.
The spring numbers represent the strong class both in numbers and in academic preparation that enrolled at BGSU in the fall. Of those first-time, full-time students, 91.7 percent have returned to campus.
BGSU is thriving, she said, because it offers excellence both inside the classroom and outside.
It continues to offer in demand programs in health science, business, and technology, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. (The university will launch its new hybrid doctorate in occupational therapy in the fall.)
This growth comes has higher education is navigating through changes in the number of high school seniors that coincided with the pandemic. Those numbers slipped for several years before rising again and hitting a peak this year at 3.9 million high school graduates nationwide. Overall college enrollment was also up this year, reversing declines in the previous years.
Then a long drop starts to 3.1 million in 2020, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Those numbers will decline further in the Midwest, Castellano said, with Ohio faring slightly better than its neighbors.
“if we continue to invest in the right programs and have a strong student experience, we’ll be able to maintain solid incoming numbers.” That includes undergraduates as well as transfers, returning students, and graduate students. BGSU is the right size to compete. She noted that BGSU President Rodney Rogers likes to say that “we’re large enough that you can meet a new friend every day, but we’re small enough that you’ll see people you know every day.”
BGSU can attract both students considering larger schools, but also those who may have their eye on smaller, private institutions.
One of the drivers for students attending smaller schools, Castellano said, is the desire to participate in sports. BGSU offers strong club sports to meet that demand.
It also offers a variety of learning communities and 350 student organizations.
BGSU’s momentum looks to be continuing as it approaches the start of a new academic year in August.
The numbers of students applying and the number of those student admitted are up.
The numbers of prospective students planning to attend the Presidents Day Open House on Feb. 17 is also up. Of course, Castellano said, how many people attend is also dependent on how good the weather is.
Also the admissions process this year is far smoother than last year when changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and mistakes in its formulae caused confusion and delays.
Those issues have been resolved and the info is flowing to admission offices and arriving earlier.
