By Elizabeth Coss and Sydney Stalnecker
Enrollment from fall 2021 reached the lowest point in Youngstown State University’s history, marking the third year in a row the university has suffered from a loss of students.
YSU has been dealing with a decline in enrollment since 2018, and it hasn’t seen enrollment numbers as high as 13,000 since 2013.
Last year, the university saw only 11,298 students fully enrolled, down from 11,788 in 2020 according to Youngstown State University’s 14th day enrollment summary.
Undergraduate students were the main portion of the university’s loss, with just over 1,000 fewer undergraduates coming into YSU following their high school career.
However, contrary to undergraduate numbers being down, 1,851 graduate students enrolled, an increase from 1,318 in fall 2020.
The percent of students who are enrolled full-time at the university saw a slight decrease as well, with now only 79.9% of students being enrolled full-time, down from 82.6% in the previous year.
Despite a loss of almost 500 students overall, YSU saw an increase in degrees received by students in the academic year of 2019-2020, one of its highest years to date.
The university handed out 2,352 degrees in the 2019-2020 academic year, as opposed to 2,218 from the previous school year.
