Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Enrollment at Wright State University for next fall is down 13.6 percent so far, a number school leaders have been trying to turn around for years now.
The undergraduate student headcount for this fall so far is 9,086, compared to 10,517 students enrolled 11 weeks out from the start of the 2018 fall semester. These numbers do not include the Boonshoft School of Medicine, which had about 480 medical students last year.
Tuition revenue is Wright State’s largest single source of income. Fewer students means less money flowing into the school, which is trying to recover from financial issues that forced it to slash around $53 million from its budget in fiscal year 2018.
The enrollment statistics were published by the university’s Office of Institutional Research, which creates a weekly report of enrollment figures that compare to the previous year. The report’s figures are likely to be discussed at a Friday meeting where WSU trustees will be briefed on the school’s fiscal year 2020 budget.
The report’s 2019 enrollment figures, said WSU spokesman Seth Bauguess, were not unexpected. But, it is a snapshot of the students currently registered and not a projection of what fall enrollment will be, Bauguess said.
Since fall registration is not yet complete and students are lost each year over spring and summer terms as they graduate out, Bauguess said the university’s total enrollment looks the lowest in the summer.
