SUNY enrollment ticks up, but still well below governor’s goal

ALBANY — After years of decline, SUNY enrollment overall increased by 1 percent this year — including a 4.3 percent boost in new undergraduates.

Enrollment has been falling for a decade, and the increase to 367,542 total students brings the system back to nearly where it was in the fall of 2021.

“New York continues to make important progress towards building the best public higher education system in the country and as a result, more young students are choosing SUNY,” Hochul said in a statement. “I know firsthand that access to higher education is an engine for social mobility. That’s why I will continue to make important investments in our higher education systems and take steps to ensure college is affordable and accessible for students of all backgrounds.”    

Some community colleges also posted big increases in new students.

At SUNY Schenectady, enrollment of new students is up 15 percent, according to SUNY. The two-year college sees regular turnover as students finish or move on, but total enrollment is up 6 percent — about 240 students — over last year’s 4,000 students.

“It’s great news,” said Patrick Ryan, vice president of administration at SUNY Schenectady.

The college had seen a precipitous decline in enrollment, from 6,600 in 2017 to 4,000 in 2022. Last year was the first increase after five years of downturn.

Among the many efforts to increase enrollment, SUNY Schenectady officials went to three high schools last year to announce that every graduating senior had been accepted.

“It sent a message to folks who wouldn’t have thought college was an option,” Ryan said. “We definitely have seen more students from those efforts.”

Hudson Valley Community College is up 3.5 percent in credit-bearing students. The college also posted big increases in high school students taking classes and in people taking non-credit programs, including workforce training.

HVCC President Roger Ramsammy celebrated the numbers as proof of the power of the education his college provides.

“We are a college that equally competes with any university,” he said, noting that many students don’t need a four-year degree to get into a good career.

The increase in enrollment was driven largely by new programs, he said.

“We have instituted several new courses and programs on our campus, like our welding and fabrication — that was a big boost for us,” he said, adding that such programs are so popular that the college ran out of space. It is now planning a new building for skilled labor programs, and a STEM building is already under construction at the North campus in Malta.

“We’re going to see another big boost next year because of our new STEM building,” he said, adding that the skilled labor building on the main campus would have an even bigger impact. “It’s just going to blow everything up.”

He’s also proud of how many students stay for a second year. Five years ago, 55 percent of students were still enrolled a year later. Now it’s 62 percent.

The largest enrollment increase, by percentage, involves the college’s high school offerings. Enrollment in those programs was 29 percent higher than last year. A total of 370 students are taking college-level courses in high schools around the region through Hudson Valley’s College in the High School. 

Also growing are non-credit programs, offered for personal enrichment or professional development. In the past year, 6,347 students have taken those courses, an 11 percent increase over the previous year.

In addition, the college saw a jump in students enrolled in credit-bearing courses. In total, 7,674 such students enrolled this fall, an increase of 3.5 percent over last fall.

Eighteen of the SUNY system’s four-year colleges and universities also posted an increase in new undergraduates.

The other 10 colleges and universities posted a decrease, including SUNY Potsdam, down 1.6 percent. In September, Potsdam President Suzanne Smith announced cuts and layoffs because the college had a $9 million operational deficit. Enrollment there is down 43 percent since 2010, she said.

The biggest decreases were at SUNY Oswego, down 18 percent, and at Empire State University, which is headquartered in Saratoga Springs, down 24 percent. But it’s not all bad news at Empire State — so many students stayed at the university that its total enrollment was 1.5 percent higher than last year despite the decrease in new students.

At University at Albany, new undergraduates increased by 7 percent over last year.

International enrollment returned to nearly where it was in fall 2019, before pandemic-related travel restrictions. The number of transfer students also rose slightly.

Graduate student enrollment, which has been increasing since 2017, continued its upward trend. There are now 45,617 graduate students in the SUNY system, up 1,300 from last year. There were 40,254 graduate students in 2017.

SUNY officials tried to directly reach every high school senior to encourage them to go to SUNY. Last spring, SUNY automatically accepted every senior outside of New York City to their nearest community college. Seniors in New York City were sent letters encouraging them to apply (they could also attend CUNY schools in the city).

SUNY also announced application fee waivers and, when a student was rejected at the SUNY to which they applied, officials would send them an auto-acceptance at another SUNY school.