“Our applications are up,” she said. “Our retention is up from fall to spring. Things are going incredibly well.”
Between fall 2012 and fall 2022, WSU enrollment fell from 16,762 students to 9,661, according to the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s preliminary headcount. In February 2021, trustees announced faculty cuts, citing student enrollment drops.
The school has been working to push enrollment back. Recent initiatives included hiring a new vice president for enrollment management and chief recruitment officer, Susan Schaurer, and implementing changes to the university meant to retain students and attract new ones, including midterm grades and a letter-writing campaign.
Doug Fecher, one of the trustees and the chair of the university trustees’ finance committee, said the university began the year expecting to see a budget deficit of about $15 million, but now expects to see a budget surplus of about $4 million.
Fecher noted that while enrollment was down this school year by about 5.9% compared to the previous year, the drop in enrollment is the smallest the university has seen in a while. But the money students paid in tuition and fees still made a good impact on the budget, Fecher said.
“I’d note that the decline in enrollment is the lowest decline in several years and also slightly ahead of what we have projected for the year,” Fecher said. “So we’re quite excited to hear what will come from the applications and all the good work.”
The other factor that impacted the deficit turning into a surplus was a high vacancy rate for staff, Fecher said, which was not always positive.
“That’s a double-edged sword. We’re happy that’s providing a surplus, but we have to note the stress that’s on our staff and the people that work here because of that higher than usual vacancy rate,” he said.
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