MT. PLEASANT, Michigan (WNEM) – For the first time in a decade, Central Michigan University (CMU) is expecting more students this year.
TV5’s James Felton spoke with Jennifer Dehaemers, vice president of student recruitment and retention at CMU, and she believes this is the beginning of a steady increase in the university’s overall enrollment in the coming years.
“Total excitement. I’m so thrilled with where we are now,” she said.
Dehaemers is pleased that overall enrollment at CMU is moving in the right direction.
According to CMU’s preliminary numbers, total enrollment increased for the first time since 2014, the number of new freshmen and transfer students will increase for the third year in a row, both freshman and transfer classes will be the largest since 2019, and on-campus residence halls are at 98% capacity.
“There are simply a lot of positive indicators that we have hit rock bottom in terms of overall enrollment and are now on the upswing,” Dehaemers said.
Dehaemers attributes this to years of student growth, student support programs and an excellent product that has reversed the trend in overall enrollment.
“Our university communications team has really tried to improve the university’s marketing and brand awareness, and we see a lot of data that suggests we are succeeding,” she said.
Total enrollment for 2024 is expected to be about 12,000 lower than in 2014, when CMU had over 26,000 students at the school. Dehaemers said it is not CMU’s goal to reach that number again; she said that is because the pool of students for universities everywhere is shrinking.
“The number of students who are ready or potentially going to college is much smaller today than it was 10 years ago,” she said.
Dehaemers said that if the university can accept 3,000 to 3,500 new freshmen and transfer students each year, its numbers will stabilize in the long term. This year, that number is over 3,100.
Dehaemers wants to maintain this positive dynamic.
“We need to continue to reach out to people who never pursued higher education after high school. We need to try to engage them and help them understand what an education – no matter what level – can mean for their future and their career,” she said.
The reason the pool of potential college students is shrinking is because more high school graduates are focusing on work rather than continuing their education, Dehaemers said.
The first official enrollment figures will be published in mid-September.
The final figures will be available in December.
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