Valpopal - Any word on grad enrollments? I'm not surprised by the freshman numbers continuing to trend downward, but the big question mark in my mind is the masters programs. In the last couple years, the only good news haf been some gains in masters enrollments but that seems more iffy in the current environment with visa removal on international students (a lot of VU's STEM masters students were international) and with major legistlative shifts to domestic loans for grad school (guessing most American students were taking out loans to do VU masters?). Did anybody hint at whether those are affecting the grad enrollments at all?
@vuindiana Upon your suggestion, I asked this afternoon about the grad situation. The answer I received is that the final numbers can be "more fluid" for masters programs; however, the current indications are that domestic enrollment is "down slightly," somewhat like the undergraduate percentage, but international grad student expectations are "up significantly" over last year, which was very poor. Therefore, unless something changes, there is "optimism" that overall incoming numbers for grad school should show solid improvement this fall.
Considering all indiana public univeristies are eliminating around 19% of their total degree offerings, and VU has made a commitment to add 2 new degrees per year over the next 5 years. VU has an opportunity to add some of these degrees no longer being offered.
Thanks, Pal! That's fascinating and overall good news, better than I expected. I've seen so much domestic media coverage of international students being deported and visas revoked, that I would have expected a pretty big pullback -- but it's probably these cases are not nearly so much in other countries' headlines. I'm glad the grad numbers sound mostly ok, though that's not great to hear about the slight decline on the domestic side which is probably the more important bell-weather long-term.
Back when I was a lad we registered for classes using notecards and Smith-Corona typewriters. And we stood in line at Hilltop Gym. Counting heads probably was as tedious as counting the Iowa caucus votes in their barns and city halls.
With digital records, maybe they know the freshman numbers within 2-3% error after the first enrollment payments? Is that day August 28 or prior?
A week ago, Pres. Padilla shared the anticipated enrollment numbers with faculty. I will not reveal the exact data until it is publicly released, especially since the figures could change slightly during the first week of classes; however, I do not think there are any big surprises, and even if they are not what was hoped by optimists or feared by pessimists, the totals will be seen as well within realistic expectations given current conditions in higher education.
Eric Johnson said the freshman class is 660 plus over 200 grad students. From 25 states and over 20 countries. Sounds good!
Eric Johnson said the freshman class is 660 plus over 200 grad students. From 25 states and over 20 countries. Sounds good!
Johnson said "660 new undergraduate students," which counts transfers in all grades, not "660 freshmen": the freshman class count is in the 520s.
Thanks for the clarification.
A freshman class in the 520s is an improvement (if I am reading the last year's posts on this correctly) from just under 500 (which included last year's FAFSA disaster. Not outstanding, not awful - but need to improve on it in the upcoming year. I would still strongly prefer Pres. Padilla to not continue in office, as he will have something to do with strategy, etc. related to recruitment.
The total new number of students, on its own, is misleading. Did Dr. Johnson provide the net number?
- He said 660 new undergrad students.
In the fall of 2024, there were 517 new first-time students (essentially freshmen), and a total of 675 new undergraduates (including the 517). So, if the count of new freshmen was in the 520s that would be a slight improvement, yet the total of 660 new undergraduates would be a slight decline. I read this as essentially holding serve from 2024 to 2025.
For those of you who are interested, the new first time students seems to be the term that VU uses, because some students come in with enough credits to be classified as sophomores.
"Holding serve" in 2025 vs. 2024 seems solid given all the turmoil and bad press in the last 12 months. Let's hope the net inflow/outflow is positive or equal on the full enrollment total.
By the way, receiving high school gradates as sophomore level students is great for the kids.
But of course that's another blow to the business model income for residential colleges. It's one less year to receive income from campus food and lodging.
vu72 - Saying just "new undergraduate students" does not consider how many you lost for reasons other than graduation. Net (new undergraduate students minus students who left) tells a much more comprehensive story.
Keep in mind that the estimated enrollment figure reported on the first day of classes usually melts slightly in the two weeks before the official census is taken, which is 9/2 this year. Also, I am told the retention percent was a bit lower than hoped, but the incoming transfer total was a little higher. Both the lower retention and the higher incoming transfer stats were probably assisted by the many athletes in the transfer portal. 
