Undergraduate enrollment up 3% at Michigan colleges and universities

• Michigan undergraduate college and university enrollment is up from last year 
• Two-year community colleges saw some of the largest increases
• Michigan college advocates say leaders should continue investment in student financial aid 

Michigan undergraduate college enrollment rose for a second consecutive year in 2024, but still fell short of pre-pandemic levels, a new national report found.

Undergraduate enrollment in Michigan grew 3% last year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that collects educational data. Nationwide, undergraduate enrollment is up 4.7% from 2023.

The group released its “Current Term Enrollment Estimates” report this week. 

Statewide, undergraduate enrollment stood at 393,913 last year, about 9% less than it was in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, 434,474 were enrolled in the state’s colleges and universities.  

Enrollment plummeted in 2020 and continued to drop for the next two years. It started to inch back up in 2023. 

Statewide, growth happened across different types of schools but most prominently in public two-year schools and schools that grant bachelor degrees but primarily grant associate degrees. 

NSC groups schools into five groups: public four-year, private nonprofit four-year, primarily associate degree granting baccalaureate institution (PAB), public two-year and other sectors. (Most Michigan community colleges are categorized as public two-year institutions but a handful are PABs.)  

Related:

• Michigan 'lifelong education' department turns 1, touting growth in free pre-K, college
• FAFSA is live for 2025: Five things to know about Michigan college costs
• First-year student enrollment down at Michigan universities

The enrollment increase is welcome news for leaders of Michigan organizations that represent colleges and universities. But they warn more needs to be done to ensure more students continue to choose college. 

Brandy Johnson, president of the Michigan Community College Association said Michigan trends mirror what’s happening on the national level. Michigan public two-year undergraduate enrollment had a 5.7% bump and PABs had a 6.9% bump. 

“Our enrollment plummeted during COVID,” Johnson said. “And then, frankly, there was a really hot labor market that might be cooling down a little bit. And community college enrollment is just so counter-cyclical to the economy.” 

Johnson credits the state’s investment in student financial aid as one factor for the increase. 

The state launched the Michigan Reconnect program in 2021 which pays for adults 25 and older to attend their local community college tuition-free. Additionally, leaders agreed to temporarily expand the program to students as young as 21.  

Johnson and others also praised the state’s Michigan Achievement Scholarship, which lawmakers created in 2022. The high school class of 2023 was the first group to benefit from the additional funding. 

The program provides up to $5,500 a year for students to attend a private college or public university full-time. In 2024, state lawmakers made changes to the program so that students could attend community college tuition-free or with heavily discounted tuition and fees. 

The estimates released Thursday focus on total enrollment, not just first-year students. A separate report from the Michigan Association of State Universities (MASU) shows that while total enrollment across the 15 public universities is up, first-year students are down about 1.1% from fall 2023.

Positive signs

“I think it spells mostly good news,” said Dan Hurley, CEO of MASU, referring to the National Student Clearinghouse report. 

The latest enrollment figures are a positive sign for schools after experts worried that the federal student financial aid process last spring would hurt student enrollment. In total, public university undergraduate enrollment is up 0.5% from last year with a total of 199,884 students enrolled in 2024.

“I think when you have essentially increases across the board in all forms of post-secondary education, that can only spell good things for the state’s and the nation’s future workforce pipeline,” Hurley said. 

Private four-year schools in Michigan show an enrollment increase of 4.4% from the previous year. 

Colby Cesaro, vice president of the Michigan Independent Colleges & Universities association, said the numbers released Thursday indicate positive signs for schools’ ability to retain current college students year to year. 

“That’s really meaningful,” Cesaro said.

Cesaro said member schools are working to make sure students get credits for all their learning experiences and that schools have good partnerships with community colleges. The goal is to ensure students continue their studies through graduation. 

Also, schools are working to communicate clearly about financial aid so students are “feeling confident about how they’re paying for college and what that means after they graduate.” 

Enrollment is just one metric to determine student and school success. Others include college graduation rates and the amount of student debt graduates have when they leave school.