Valley’s Colleges, Universities See Positive Signs in Fall Enrollment
CVTC sees overall enrollment growth, with UWEC and UW-Stout dip slightly
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional enrollment data from the UW System.
The University of Wisconsin System recently reported an important positive trend in student enrollment, a first in about a decade: This fall’s enrollment numbers increased compared to last year’s for the first time since 2014. In the Chippewa Valley, colleges and universities say they’re also seeing positive signs in a number of enrollment categories.
Chippewa Valley Technical College has experienced a decade-long first this fall, with the current 2023-24 full-time student enrollment (FTE) sitting at 2,102, a 3% increase over last school year. With a total student count of 7,588, overall student enrollment is also up 2%.
“After the universal dip in enrollment in 2021, we have seen a steady rebound in the last two years and are now showing our highest FTE count since 2011,” said Joni Geroux, CVTC’s vice president of strategic communication and community engagement. “We believe our efforts to meet students where they are, help them connect to each other and their community, and give them solid foundations for their careers, among other things, has led to this growth.”
In Menomonie, UW-Stout is seeing a record number of students across several areas, including first-year students, international students, and student-athletes. “The university has seen an important increase in first-year students and a double-digit increase in international students, the latter for a second straight year,” a recent UW-Stout media release reported. “Nearly 250 international students from 43 countries are enrolled.”
Total enrollment at UW-Stout on the first day of the semester stood at 6,972, down 3.5%, or 254 students, from last year’s final fall enrollment. (Official fall enrollment numbers, which are calculated based upon 10th day enrollment, won’t be available until later this fall, the UW System says.)
UW-Stout’s School of Art and Design, which already was the largest in the Upper Midwest, has set its all-time record with nearly 1,300 students this fall. In another positive trend, UW-Stout’s retention rate among first-year students has also risen for a third straight year. Plus, new and returning students are receiving more financial support than ever this year, following the university’s largest fundraising year in history. A record 540 students have been awarded $1.2 million in scholarships from the Stout University Foundation.
UW-Eau Claire, too, is seeing increased enrollment across international, transfer, graduate, and new incoming students this year. Its freshman class is up 2.3% from last year, and its first- and second-year student retention rate is at 82%, up nearly 4 percentage points from its COVID-era rates.
Based on data collected on the first day of the semester, overall enrollment at UWEC took a 1.5% dip from the fall of 2022, standing at 9,907 compared with 10,060.
Diving further into its fall 2023 class numbers, more than half of current Blugolds (66%) are Wisconsin natives and even more came into the school year with previous college credit. Currently, UWEC’s top five largest majors for the incoming class are undecided/exploring; nursing; pre-professional business; biology; and psychology.
UWEC’s athletic programs also continue to be a draw, with students from Washington, California, Alaska, and other states coming to play for the university. In total, 340 of the new freshmen are student-athletes.
“Students know that we are a university where they can have a complete undergraduate experience that resonates with employers and still graduate in four years,” said William Felz, UWEC’s vice chancellor of enrollment management. “And now that people are traveling again after the pandemic, more people are coming to Wisconsin’s most beautiful campus and really seeing themselves here.”
Students locally and across the country continue to flock to our slice of the Midwest for a plethora of reasons, and following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and its continued effects around the globe – and on higher education – it is an affirming and positive trend.
Learn more about CVTC online • Learn more about UW-Stout online • Learn more about UW-Eau Claire online • Read the UW System’s full preliminary report on this fall’s trends across the state online
