A glimpse into one state’s university enrollment changes

How is public higher education changing?

We have a new sketch of an answer to this question for one state. The Detroit News recently ran an article about Michigan’s public universities, focusing on enrollment. I’d like to share some of it here.

The overall picture is one of most Michigan public institutions losing enrollment over the past decade to various degrees, except for a couple enjoying the opposite experience:

Some of this is unsurprising. The University of Michigan is one of the world’s great universities. Michigan State is also highly ranked. Naturally they attract students (like myself, back in the day).

Yet, setting aside Michigan Tech’s near-plateau, I think the rest of the picture is not so well appreciated. Consider how many of those institutions saw their student numbers drop by values in the 20s — or 30s. Central Michigan University (CMU) lost nearly one half of its enrollment. It is actually closing up some residence halls this fall.

Now, those are all relative numbers, comparisons and proportions. What are the absolute numbers? According to Michigan Association of State Universities (MASU) data, total enrollment in state universities was 303,969 in 2011. By 2021 it fell to 262,985, roughly a 14% decline. 2022 numbers are still…