photo by: Shawn Valverde/Special to the Journal-World

The University of Kansas campus is pictured in this September 2023 aerial photo.

Freshmen rule, and if you don’t believe it, the University of Kansas can point you to a new record.

Driven by a historically large freshmen class, KU has hit a new all-time high for enrollment, and currently is the fastest growing Regents university in the state, according to new figures released Wednesday.

KU’s fall enrollment — not counting the KU Medical Center — stood at 26,887 students. That’s up 5.6% from a year ago. For the second straight year, KU welcomed its largest freshmen class in history. With the medical school enrollment added to the totals, KU has a total enrollment of 30,770 students. That tops the previous all-time high of 30,102 in 2008.

“This is a special year for the University of Kansas,” Chancellor Douglas Girod said via a press release. “We are pleased to welcome this historic freshman class and to have grown our overall enrollment to the highest level in the 159-year history of the institution. These numbers confirm that talented students from across Kansas and the world see the value of attending a leading research institution like KU. Additionally, these enrollment numbers speak to the work our faculty and staff do to recruit talented students and support them as they earn their degrees.”

The 5.6% growth rate at KU was well above the growth rate of any of the state’s other five Regents universities. Next highest was Kansas State University, which posted a 2.8% growth rate. The average for the Regents schools — which include KU, KSU, Wichita State, Emporia State, Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State — was 2.3%. KU had the largest enrollment growth measured by total students of any public university in the state. By growth rate, the state’s lone municipal university — Washburn University in Topeka — posted a larger growth rate at 6.5%. Barton County Community College, a two-year college, had the highest growth rate of any institution at 15.9%, and Johnson County Community College had the largest growth in total students of any institution — college, university or technical school — with 1,634 new students.

Freshmen are a big part of the growth story at KU. Last year, KU enrolled its largest freshmen class in history, and put itself at the doorstep of a new overall record. Last year’s freshmen surge came after KU implemented new recruitment strategies that ranged from changes in how scholarship offers are presented to prospective students to increased marketing efforts in out-of-state communities.

Throughout the spring and summer, Girod had expressed optimism to the Journal-World that this year’s freshmen class would be at or near a new record. But, worries emerged as the federal system to qualify students for financial aid — known as FAFSA — experienced major problems as the federal government rolled out a new website and application process.

In the end, those problems weren’t enough to keep KU from a new record. This fall’s freshmen class totaled 5,323 students, which is 1.2% bigger than last year’s freshmen class.

Early indications are that KU’s increased efforts in marketing to out of state students paid dividends. Out-of-state students made up 45% of this fall’s freshmen class. That’s a new record, as well. Look for KU to highlight those out-of-state numbers as the university continues to seek funding from the state of Kansas for its operations. KU says surveys indicated that about one-third of all out-of-state students remain in Kansas after graduation and enter the state’s workforce. If true, that means KU is the largest “net importer of talent to address Kansas’ workforce needs,” KU said in a press release.

Last year’s freshmen class also has played a big role in the new overall enrollment record set this fall. The latest report found that 86.5% of last year’s freshmen class returned to the university this year. That’s a new record retention rate for the university, KU said via press release.

The high retention mark comes after KU has spent millions of dollars revamping its academic advising system, along with other student success offices.

“The number of new freshmen is the metric that often grabs the headlines, but equally important to our mission and overall enrollment is ensuring that we retain and support existing students as they work toward their degrees,” Girod said via press release. “That’s why we are so proud of this year’s record-setting retention and graduation rates, and that’s why we must remain committed to improving the student experience through teaching, curriculum, advising, health care and other areas that matter to students.”

Wednesday’s enrollment report — which measured the number of students enrolled as of Sept. 20 — provided several other details about KU’s enrollment figures. They include:

• Minority student enrollment overall has set a new record with 7,960 minority students, which accounts for 25.9% of all students on campus. The freshmen class had an even larger percentage, with minority students making up 26.5% of the freshmen class.

• KU set a new record for students who are either veterans, active-duty service members or otherwise connected to the military. KU now has 2,258 of those students, which is up more than 17% from a year ago.

• The new freshmen class posted an average GPA of 3.68, which is a new freshmen high for KU.

• The School of Business, the School of Education & Human Sciences, and the School of Journalism were the top three academic destinations for incoming freshmen. Each of those three schools posted new record highs in freshmen enrollment.

The enrollment report, which was produced by the Kansas Board of Regents, also provides totals for all the state’s other public universities, community colleges and technical schools. Overall, enrollment across all categories was up 4%, which marked the second consecutive year that the state’s higher education system saw overall enrollment growth.

Enrollment in the six public universities — which also includes the KU Medical Center and KSU’s veterinary school — grew by 2.3% to 91,974 students. Enrollment in the state’s 19 state- supported community colleges grew 5.9% to 64,352 students. Student totals at the state’s six technical colleges grew 5.3% to 11,517 students.

The growth is welcome news to the Board of Regents — which oversees the state’s higher education system — as there has been worries that Kansas’ slow population growth overall will make it more difficult for the state’s higher education institutions to maintain enrollment levels, let alone grow them.

Until last year, that worry largely was coming true. Even with the strong enrollment figures from the last two years, the state’s higher education system still has fewer students than it did in 2019, prior to the pandemic. In 2019, the system — everything from universities to technical colleges — had just less than 180,000 students compared to about 175,000 students today. Officially, numbers are down 2.6% for the five year period.

Community colleges have seen the largest enrollment declines during the five-year period, down 4.9%. The state’s universities are down 2.8% during the period. Technical colleges have been the bright spot, with enrollment growth of 18.1% since 2019. Technical college enrollment has grown from about 9,700 students to about 11,500 students during the time period.

Here’s a look at enrollment totals for each of the state’s four-year public universities and affiliated schools, with their one year and five-year growth percentages shown:

• KU: 26,887, up 5.6% for 1-year, up 9.2% for 5-year;

• Kansas State: 19,802, up 2.8% for 1-year, down 6.8% for 5-year

• Wichita State: 17,700, up 0.9% for 1-year, up 10.2% for 5-year

• Fort Hays State: 12,878, up 0.3% for 1-year, down 19% for 5-year

• Pittsburg State: 5,774, up 0.7% for 1-year, down 13.1% for 5-year

• Emporia State: 4,557, down 2.2% for 1-year, down 22.5% for 5-year

• KU Medical Center: 3,883, down 0.1% for 1-year, up 2.3% for 5-year

• K-State Veterinary: 493, up 3.6% for 1-year, up 5.6% for 5-year

On the community college front, Johnson County Community College continues to be the largest in the state by far. It has 18,768 students, up 9.5% from a year ago, and up 2.5% from five years ago. The next closet community college in size in Butler, headquartered just outside of Wichita, with about 6,800 students.

Wichita State University’s Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology is the largest technical college in the state with about 6,100 students, up 8% from a year ago and 24% over the last five years.

KU’s enrollment growth comes at a time when university leaders across the country are worried about a pending “demographic cliff” that is expected to hit around 2026. That is 18 years after the 2008 Great Recession, when birthrates fell for several years as families struggled financially.

KU’s recently completed strategic plan showed the university is expected to face challenges in attracting new students from its traditional locales due to high school graduating classes becoming smaller each year.

KU’s 10-year strategic plan noted that 90% of KU’s students currently from Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. However, the number of high school graduates each of those states is projected to produce between 2019 and 2037 is expected to drop significantly. Kansas is expected to see a 13% decline, Missouri a 7% decline and Illinois a 24% decline. Those numbers are driving KU’s strategy to offer more online classes that can more easily be offered to students around the world. The university also is developing new degree or certificate programs that are designed for older students who may need particular training or skills to advance their careers.

On Wednesday Girod said it is important for university leaders to continue to recognize those looming challenges.

“This is a historic year for the University of Kansas, and we should all pause to celebrate and be proud of the work we’ve done,” Girod said via press release. “That said, we must continue our work to recruit and retain top students and create a university they want to attend. Higher education continues to face challenges, and enrollments nationally are projected to continue dropping in the coming years. That’s why we must continue to improve our university through our strategic priorities in alignment with the Kansas Board of Regents’ strategic plan, the needs of Kansas businesses and communities, and our aspirations as one of the nation’s leading research institutions.”