In Fall 2019, 11,926 students were enrolled at the University of Idaho. This semester, that number is down 9.5%, with 10,791 students enrolled.
An email from UI President C. Scott Green this morning attributed the decline to a dip in high school dual-credit students and non-degree seeking students. The email did, however, note a “significant increase in higher-margin (Western Undergraduate Exchange) students.”
Last year’s 0.71% increase in overall enrollment came from first-time freshmen, non-degree seeking students and graduate students, according to past reporting from The Argonaut.
“(Non-degree seeking students) are not full tuition-paying students, so while there is a decrease, it is not a substantial hit to our budget,” the email stated. “We will, however, need to work harder to get these students into the college-bound pipeline.”
UI outperformed expectations for Fiscal Year 2020, the email stated. While there are risks to the university’s financial health, it should be able to stay within its budget if UI stays open for live instruction and there are no further COVID-19-related government holdbacks, the email stated.
“Considering waiver savings, higher-margin WUE enrollment and the smaller financial impact of dual-credit and non-degree enrollment shortfalls, we do not anticipate the need to make additional reductions in the FY21 budget,” the email stated.
There are 6,830 undergraduate students involved, 1,429 of which are first-time undergraduate students. This reflects a 3.77% decline in first-time undergraduate enrollment.
While there is a 21% increase in students participating in WUE, a program which allows students from 16 western states to pay less than out-of-state tuition, there is a 27% decline in enrollment for out-of-state students not participating in WUE. International student enrollment is down 29% because “most new (international) students were not able to attend this fall” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New graduate student enrollment is on an upward trend. In Fall 2019, graduate student enrollment increased by 2.6%. This semester, graduate student enrollment is up by 4%. When Boise’s Concordia Law School went defunct, 110 students transferred to UI, which resulted in a significant increase in College of Law enrollment.
Enrollment is up by 8% for Native American students (eight students), 27% for Native Hawaiian students (10 students) and 14% for multi-race students (50 students).
Retention is 77% for Fall 2020, around the same as Fall 2019. The graduating class for Spring 2020 was the largest of the past six years, which means UI must “bring in even more first-time students to fill the gap created by successful completion of degrees,” the email stated.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]