After dropping during the pandemic, Minnesota universities see an enrollment spike

Earlier this month, freshmen at the University of Minnesota Rochester packed the halls of their downtown campus for an activities fair, looking for new ways to spend their free time. 

Among them was Fatima Abdulkadir, an 18-year-old from Faribault studying dental health. She chose UMR because of its health care focus, as the campus is steps from Mayo Clinic.

“Oral health isn’t talked about a lot. Everyone is usually pre-med. Like gingivitis, and all these things. They aren't talked about as much as cancer,” she said. 

Abdulkadir is also the first in her family to go to college. She said it’s a big deal.

“You’re first gen, so it's more expected to get better opportunities for yourself,” she said. “I think [my family is] proud.”

In many ways, Abdulkadir is emblematic of UMR’s unusually large freshman class of nearly 400 students, an 80 percent increase over last year's first year enrollment. Nearly half of the new students are the first in their families to go to college. 

UMR president Lori Carrell said the big surge in enrollment is due to a lot of factors. Last year, she said enrollment was down due to confusion around changes to the college financial aid program. From 2020-2023, enrollment fluctuated in part due to the pandemic. 

But Carrell said the school recently revamped its recruitment strategy, focusing on students who are naturally passionate about health care, and who might not otherwise have access to college. 

And Carrell said the strategy is working. 

“Here at UMR in our incoming class, we have 52 percent of our students are students of color or BIPOC students. Nearly as many are first generation, and nearly as many are low income,” Carrell said. “And these are just the students that we want to recruit. So we're thrilled about this outcome.”

Carrell said the school anticipated the growth, expanding dorm and classroom space in recent years. With an estimated 1,127 students total this year, Carrell said the school is on track to have 1,500 students in three years. Ultimately, Carrell said the school wants a total of 2,500 students annually. 

Enrollment up semester over semester

UMR isn’t the only Minnesota school experiencing higher enrollment. Across the state, colleges and universities are reporting similar increases.

University of Minnesota Duluth’s freshman class is the largest in recent years. Minnesota State Moorhead has seen a 31 percent jump in students coming directly from high school. 

System wide, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is seeing a roughly 7 percent increase in enrollment this fall over last spring. 

Chancellor Scott Olson said it’s a trend. 

"We are seeing system-wide, an increase of several percentage points over last year, and last spring was up several percentage points over last fall, and last fall was up a significant amount over the prior year. So we're three semesters into increases,” he said.

Olson said the increased student enrollment is due to a few factors. Many schools are seeing enrollment bounce back after it dipped during the pandemic. But that’s not the only factor. He points to the North Star Promise, a new program that makes tuition free for Minnesotans whose families meet certain income requirements.

“The North Star Promise Scholarship has, we think, been a tremendous wind at our back to help students feel like they can afford higher education,” Olson said. “We think that's a huge thing.”

Olson also pointed to a relatively new program that matches soon-to-graduate high schoolers with colleges ready to accept them based on grades alone, making it easier for students to pick a school. 

Last minute dorms

In Winona, programs that make it easier for students to afford school and to identify schools that will accept them have contributed to a bigger freshman class, said Winona State University president Ken Janz.

Over the summer, the school had to convert buildings to dorms to accommodate a nearly 12 percent increase in its freshman class size. 

“We went around campus and turned some lounges and things into residence halls and rooms, and in some of our bigger residence halls, we made some triples,” Janz said. “We opened at 105 percent capacity for residence halls this year.”

Still, Janz cautioned that this surge may not last very long. 

“I think we will possibly next year … have a little growth,” he said. “But after that, we're actually going to hit some pretty steep demographic cliff, where there's just going to be a lot less 18-year-olds.”

As a result, Janz says colleges everywhere will have to change up their recruitment strategies once again.

Molly Castle Work contributed to this reporting. 

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