For the first time since 2020, total fall enrollment is up for Emporia State University — while upward enrollment continues at Flint Hills Technical College.
The Kansas Board of Regents released its fall preliminary enrollment summary Wednesday. At Emporia State, headcount went from 4,557 students last year to 4,820, an increase of almost 6 percent — the highest percentage increase for a Regents university. Full-time equivalent student numbers went from 3,325 to 3,464 students, an increase of 4.2 percent.
Executive Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Dr Taylor Kriley says this follows a “total transformation of the university’s recruiting and retention efforts,” with a lot of positive results from a range of new scholarship opportunities.
Besides the overall numbers, there are other numbers worth considering:
*Undergraduate enrollment is up 8 percent, including a 30-percent increase for first-time undergraduate students and a 7-percent increase in new undergraduate transfers
*New first-time graduate enrollment is up 81 percent
*Student participation rates are up 70 percent since last year and are at the university’s highest levels in 15 years
*On-campus enrollment is up 5 percent, including a 23-percent increase in residence hall occupancy
*Teachers College enrollment is up 11 percent overall and 33 percent in undergraduate elementary education
*Pre-nursing is up 25 percent with construction continuing on the Nursing + Student Wellness Center
This is also significant because ESU had to use a $30 million correction to reverse a $19 million budget deficit when it dove into the Framework for Workforce Management restructuring plan. Several years ago, ESU had projected this year as a flat-enrollment year or, at best, an enrollment increase of 2 percent.
The question now is how ESU keeps the momentum going, whether with retention or with increased competition as other universities study Emporia State’s operations model the last few years.
Overall and full-time enrollment have been concerns for ESU, which has seen steadily declining numbers the last decade. Over the past 10 years, headcount peaked at nearly 6,100 students and full-time numbers peaked at almost 4,780 students — both in 2015.
Flint Hills Technical College had headcount go from 1,794 to 1,835 students, up 2.3 percent. Full-time numbers went from 716 to 734, up 2.5 percent. President Caron Daugherty is pleased with the increases, especially given the competition in and out of the education realm.
Daugherty focuses on undergraduate enrollment as a highlight.
Tech College enrollment has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. The college continues the $17 million Advancing Tomorrow capital campaign for the Advancing Industry Technology Center, set to be built on the main campus within the next three years. Daugherty says the enrollment numbers show the new facility is needed.
The college also continues adding programs, including Precision Agriculture this year and a new mobile dental hygiene unit next year.
*Click here for the Kansas Board of Regents enrollment report.
