Kent State University's enrollment is up about 500 students this fall, continuing a positive trend from the previous year.
The university has 34,012 students enrolled across its eight campuses for the fall 2024 semester. Its enrollment was also up last fall, although in terms of long-term trends, it's still down considerably compared to a high of 41,636 students about a decade and a half ago. Enrollment is also down from a 2010 high-water mark for the other three major public universities in Northeast Ohio - the University of Akron, Cleveland State University and Youngstown State University - and for many others across the country as colleges and universities grapple with declining birth rates and the public's shaken confidence in the value of higher education.
In addition to enrollment stabilizing, Kent State highlighted several other positive trends in a news release Wednesday: its highest freshman class enrollment since 2019 (its eighth-largest freshman class ever), an increase in applications and retention of students from one year to the next and its most-diverse freshman class ever, including 34% being first-generation students.
"21% are underrepresented, which includes African American, Hispanic, Native American and multiracial students," the college wrote of the freshman class. "Nearly 80% of the freshman students are from Ohio, and 4% of the students are international."
Youngstown State saw the largest increase in students for Northeast Ohio public universities. That was largely due to an influx of students from Eastern Gateway College, set to shutter permanently at the end of October. Cleveland State saw a slight increase compared to last fall, while Akron saw its enrollment fall again despite stabilization last year.
Cleveland State has already made cuts this year to its staff and shed faculty through a buy-out plan; meanwhile Kent State president Todd Diacon has said his university will need to make reductions as well.
