ESU Announces First Year Of Enrollment Growth In Four Years

Posted by: admin on October 2, 2014, No Comments

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania reported its first enrollment increase in four years according to official Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) enrollment census, gathered in late September. According to David Bousquet, ESU’s vice president for enrollment management, the total enrollment for the Fall 2014 semester stands at 6,812, up from the university’s 2013 enrollment of 6,778. The increase represents the highest enrollment growth percentage among PASSHE institutions this year.

“This enrollment growth didn’t happen overnight,” said Bousquet. “The increase should be attributed to a number of factors, the first being the tremendous efforts of ESU’s admissions team which resulted in our largest freshman class in three years, a 6.4 percent increase over the 2013 freshman class. Their efforts were instrumental to ESU’s enrollment growth at a time when many universities in Pennsylvania and nationwide are experiencing a drop in the size of their freshman class.”

Bousquet added that ESU faculty also played a significant role by generating an accurate census count to determine precise course enrollments. “President Welsh continues to keep all faculty and staff mindful of the important role they play in the recruitment and retention of students,” said Bousquet. “She values the collective work of all personnel and has a strong commitment to student success. Each member of ESU’s faculty, staff and administrative team knows that our every effort is critical to a student’s decision to apply, enroll and graduate from ESU.”

Bousquet indicated that retention of students is equally as important as new student enrollment. “A clear example would be to take a look at the 2013 freshman class. Three hundred of those students did not return this fall.”

Bousquet also shared some other interesting facts about enrollment and recruitment:

  • The number of Pennsylvania residents enrolled as freshmen increased by an impressive 14.35 percent over last year (956 vs. 836). Graduate student enrollment continued to increase for the second year in a row in both resident and non-resident students, rising from 592 to 614.
  • ESU is PASSHE’s most diverse campus with 25.5% of students selecting a race other than Caucasian.
  • The enrollment of African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and white students increased by 15.9 percent, 11.7 percent, 4.8 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.
  • All of the colleges except Education experienced a small enrollment increase in undergraduates this fall. (The College of Education’s situation reflects Pennsylvania’s employment situation for elementary and early childhood education teachers.)

“We must remain keenly aware of the impact of all we do on our campus,” said Bousquet. “The success of this year’s effort clearly demonstrates that recruitment and retention has become everyone’s job. At ESU, we’ve set the bar high and will move forward to continually improve our efforts to enroll, retain and graduate qualified students one student at a time.”