USA, UM Report High Enrollment

According to preliminary enrollment data in Alabama, only three of the state’s 14 public, four-year universities experienced a downturn in annual enrollment during 2022-2023. This is despite the difficult atmosphere for colleges since the pandemic, AL.com reported. Even universities that have struggled within the past 10 years are having a good start to the 2023-2024 academic year. Locally, University of South Alabama (USA) officials are touting first-year student enrollment jumping to levels that look to make its class of 2027 “one of the largest” in the institution’s 60-year history. USA “aggressively focused on student recruitment in the last two years, expanding scholarships and its approaches to reaching new students and families,” with an estimated 14,089 total enrollment, AL.com said. Though it is a private university, the University of Mobile (UM) also reported a record-breaking number of first-time freshmen (288), with an overall 14% increase in new students, plus a 72% retention rate that pushed enrollment growth to 1,916 students for the current semester.