Northern Michigan University's enrollment report for the winter semester that began in January shows an increase of 330 students, or 5.3%, compared with the same time last year. The overall headcount is 6,657. Improved persistence—the percentage of students who re-enroll after the fall semester—is also encouraging, particularly among freshmen. Both factors have a “stacking effect” that can help to stabilize enrollment and put the university on even better footing moving forward.
"Most of the enrollment increases are coming from our graduate education and our Global Campus offerings, which are both seeing significant growth in the last year,” said Jason Nicholas, assistant provost and director for Institutional Effectiveness. “We are also seeing positive strides in our continuing students. Every year, we have some students with unfinished business who don't return for many reasons. This year, we are seeing a little less of that, with those who have not yet completed their degrees re-enrolling at higher rates.”
Graduate enrollment increased by about 22%, to 629 total. Global Campus, which offers online-only programs, has 307 more students than last year, an increase of nearly 60%.
The most recent statistics build on positive strides from the fall semester, when Northern reported increases of almost 10% for new freshmen and 15% for both new transfers and graduate students. These improvements helped to boost the total headcount by 3.3%, offsetting a large graduating class in May 2023.