Eastern Michigan University celebrates mostly positive enrollment news

Students will soon be filling the Halle Library on the Eastern University campus as classes get under way next week.

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As of Friday morning, EMU had 2,079 freshmen enrolled for this fall. That’s 102 more than had registered last year at the same time, though Lindke noted that classes are starting about a week earlier this year than last, so that might skew the comparison.

The university has enrolled about 18,000 undergraduate students, over 200 more than last year at this time. Lindke said the numbers will continue to climb a bit, even after classes start next Wednesday.

Graduate enrollment stood at 4,565, compared to 4,660 at the same time last year. “The new graduate students are looking positive, but returning graduate student numbers are down a bit,” Lindke said.

About 12,600 prospective students submitted applications for this fall, about 25 percent more than last year. The increase is a testament to the university’s stepped-up recruiting efforts, Lindke said.

“We had more effort. We had different recruiting and more marketing,’’ she said, noting that for a time EMU waived the $20 application fee.

Lindke said EMU is also seeing more applicants with grade point averages in the 3.5 to 4.0 range, though she noted the overall average GPA of admitted freshmen is likely to stay around 3.1 or slightly above.

EMU expects to continue working hard to recruit students in future years, Lindke said. She noted that the number of high school graduates in Michigan is on a downward trend and will continue to decline for the next several years.

“We have to work a little harder for that entering class.”

Meanwhile, EMU has a variety of activities planned to welcome freshman to campus this weekend. Residence hall move-in started on Saturday, and the university planned a picnic and other activities. Lindke said about 5,000 students, parents and other family members are expected.

“It’s just a real festive weekend,” she said.