By Nicholas Bianco and Tala Alsharif / Jambar Contributors
Youngstown State University saw a growth in its student community last fall semester.
According to YSU’s news center, the university experienced a significant enrollment surge in 2024.
With a total headcount of 12,164 students, YSU achieved a notable 10.7% increase from last year’s 10,993 enrolled students. The increase marked the university’s largest enrollment since 2018.
There was also an 11.4% increase in undergraduate students and a graduate increase of 8.1%.
Jennifer Pintar, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said the student enrollment increase can be credited to faculty members and deans, who worked to create new programs for transfer students from the former Eastern Gateway Community College.
“Because of the closing of Eastern Gateway, [students] needed a home and so our faculty really worked hard to set up those curriculums,” Pintar said.
According to YSU’s news center, the campus saw a 106.5% rise in transfer students. In total, 475 students transferred from Eastern Gateway to YSU.
Jeanne Herman, associate vice president of strategic enrollment, credited YSU for opening the doors to students whose community college closed down.
“We really did stand up for the residents in our area and our community, and that really attributed to some of the growth,” Herman said.
Herman also said the addition of associate degree programs for former Eastern Gateway students might have contributed to the enrollment increase.
“It wasn’t just the transfer students who took those associate programs, so there is very much a definite need to have those programs offered for the students within our area,” Herman said. “We had more than 70 Eastern Gateway students who then transferred to be bachelor’s seeking students.”
YSU also saw a 44% increase in international student enrollment. Pintar said the increase in international students is attributed to positive campus experiences and affordable enrollment costs.
“A lot of that is based on word of mouth. Students are having good, positive experiences at Youngstown State,” Pintar said. “Tuition is quite a value for international students and for the most part that I’m hearing, they feel very comfortable at YSU.”
According to Herman, YSU’s recruitment is very broad with graduate, undergraduate and international admissions.
“We’re targeting specific programs that students may want and specific areas where students may be at for specific programs and I think we’ve been very successful with that,” Herman said. “In addition, we’ve been very consistent with going out to the high schools [and] college fairs, meeting students where they’re at.”
Pintar said YSU looks to attract transfer students from other universities.
“We’re flexible and agile with our offerings both online and face-to-face,” Pintar said. “We’re doing a lot of marketing work towards reaching out to those students who have invested in a part of a college degree, but then for whatever reason have stopped.”
Pintar said YSU is doing focus work such as getting faculty in front of the camera to talk about their passion.
“We’ve really worked with the faculty for programs that are low enrollment, but by all looks at jobs, opportunities in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they should be much higher enrollment,” Pintar said.
Pintar said YSU looks to continue its enrollment increase with a goal of 15,000 to 20,000 enrolled students.
