Oct 12, 2022 2 min read

There is good news and bad news for Pennsylvania Western University in preliminary fall enrollment data released by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

First, the bad news: overall enrollment at the newly created university, which pulled together California, Edinboro and Clarion universities into one unit, is down by 11%.

The good news, however, is that freshman enrollment increased by 1.5%, which PASSHE officials point to as a good sign for the future.

Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of the PASSHE, said in a news release, “There are positive trends across the State System, and we are guardedly optimistic about the opportunities to stabilize and possibly even grow longer term.”

Officials with PASSHE say the 11% dip at the three campuses is part of a national trend that has seen declining college enrollment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and an unusually strong job market that has led some prospective students to step into employment rather than the classroom. PASSHE campuses have also been battered by demographic trends that have seen fewer graduates emerging from Western Pennsylvania high schools, and some of those graduates taking a pass on signing up at a college or university due to escalating costs.

Enrollment numbers for each of the three PennWest campuses were not available. Overall, the university has 12,780 students enrolled. Last fall, before the merger of California, Edinboro and Clarion was finalized, the three campuses had registered 14,477 students. To illustrate how steep the decline in enrollment has been at the three institutions, in 2013 they had a combined enrollment of 21,421.

PennWest was not alone in enrollment declines over the last year. All 14 campuses in the State System lost students, with the exceptions of the East Stroudsburg and Cheyney universities, but those gains were relatively small – Cheyney added 64 students to its 706-student body, and East Stroudsburg added 16 students, bringing its enrollment to 5,136 students. Overall, there are 84,556 students taking classes at PASSHE schools, a decline of 4.6% from the fall of 2021. Nine years ago, there were 112,225 students in the State System.

The California, Edinboro and Clarion campuses have 26 more freshmen than this time last year, bringing the number of first-year students to 2,014. Freshmen enrollment increased at most campuses, with the exceptions of Millersville, Cheyney and Commonwealth universities. Like PennWest, Commonwealth University combined Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities into one entity in the face of declining enrollment and rising costs.