Photo courtesy of SMSU Students walk across the main courtyard at the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University. Fall enrollment data shows the university welcomed more than 300 new first-year students this fall which is an increase of nearly 11% compared to the fall of 2022.

MARSHALL — Fall enrollment data is showing growth across the board at Southwest Minnesota State University this year.

After the first 10 days of the fall term, SMSU showed an increase of nearly 11% in the number of new first-year students, and an overall enrollment increase of 5.2%, the university said.

SMSU’s full-year equivalent (FYE) enrollment, a measure of how many credit hours students are taking, grew 6.2% from 2022, said SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya said SMSU’s overall enrollment growth this fall was “Probably our highest in about 10 years. So that’s pretty remarkable.”

“Hopefully we can maintain a gradual increase like this,” Jayasuriya said.

Next year’s enrollment numbers would help show whether that was true, he said.

SMSU released fall enrollment data last week, after the first 10 days of the term. That cutoff is used as a measurement for enrollment data because most students enrolled at the university after 10 days have historically gone on to complete the term.

A total of 368 first-year students enrolled in SMSU this fall, which is a 10.8% increase from fall 2022, the university said. Overall, the university is serving a total of 2,531 students seeking a degree, which is an increase of more than 5% from last year.

Undergraduate student retention was also up 2% from 2022, the university said.

Jayasuriya said the university’s retention rate was at 69.5%.

“That’s a pretty good number to be at,” he said. Last fall, the university’s goal was to raise student retention rates to 70%.

SMSU had been one of the only four-year institutions in the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities to show enrollment growth during the COVID pandemic. However, in fall 2022 enrollment numbers dipped 4.7%. At the 2022 State of the University Address, Jayasuriya said that decrease was the equivalent of losing about 68 students from SMSU’s headcount.

Jayasuriya said this year, only one student demographic area was showing a decline in fall enrollment, and that was international students. Student visa approval rates have been down across the country, which accounts for the decrease, he said.

There were several different factors that all played a role in this fall’s enrollment increases, Jayasuriya said. One was the university embracing the Minnesota State system’s goal of eliminating gaps in educational equity by 2030. SMSU offers a few different programs, including Access Opportunity Success, the Mustang Pathway Program, and SUCCESS (Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success) dedicated to supporting students from historically underserved populations.

“Those really helped us recruit a diverse group of students,” Jayasuriya said.

That diversity is really helping to grow SMSU’s enrollment, he said. First-generation college students now make up half the university’s student body.

Jayasuriya said taking a new approach to recruitment has also helped. Instead of being “siloed” in different departments, SMSU staff are now working together to recruit prospective students.

“All these things helped us in terms of recruitment,” Jayasuriya said.

In a news release on the fall enrollment data, Jayasuriya recognized highlighted university staff’s efforts in recruiting and retaining students at SMSU.

“I must give credit to the dedication of our staff and faculty who meet with prospective students and provide one-on-one support for our current students,” Jayasuriya said. “An engaging, inclusive student-centered environment is the foundation of our institutional mission, vision, and values.”

Jayasuriya also said SMSU would be continuing to work toward enrollment and retention growth after the news about this fall’s data.

“We take great pride in these numbers. The data tell us we’re doing things right for our students,” he said. “We are focused now on fall 2024. Our goals for continued growth and bringing in a larger first-year cohort mean we won’t stop to celebrate.”