And if the system continued to grow its first-year enrollment at the same rate every year, the system could begin to show overall enrollment growth by 2024, he said.īut the school also noted a boost in first-year numbers. If first-year enrollment continues at a strong pace, the system’s longstanding decline could finally flatten out by 2026, he said. “I want to be really guardedly optimistic, giddy with enthusiasm but super pragmatic about what’s left,” he said. » READ MORE: Pennsylvania's universities record biggest one-year enrollment decline in more than a decade

Part of the reason for the decrease is that graduate enrollments have dropped, he said, and smaller, upper-level classes impacted by the pandemic are still moving through the system. However, it looks like overall enrollment will slide again by about 4.5% to 5.5%, Greenstein said, putting the system at around 84,000 total students. Current projections show freshmen at about 15,600, up about 1,000 students, he said. Enrollment in Pennsylvania’s state universities has dropped again, but officials are focusing on what they say is a bright spot: The number of freshmen is up for the first time since 2009.įinal numbers won’t be available until a little later this month, but Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, said it appears first-year enrollment has increased somewhere between 5% and 7%.

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