Ferris State University has welcomed 14,187 students across all of its campuses to
begin the Fall 2016 semester. The more than 14,000 enrolled students, systemwide,
includes 10,016 on main campus in Big Rapids.
The university’s overall enrollment numbers, to start the 2016-17 academic year, represent a slight decline of 528 students, or 3.5 percent, from 14,715 students enrolled to begin the Fall 2015 semester. Beyond main campus numbers, off-campus sites experienced a decline of 206 students. The enrollment figures are reflective of national trends anticipated by Ferris, peer institutions and others, noted Jeanine Ward-Roof, vice president for student affairs. She saluted the enthusiasm of this year’s student population fresh off a great series of Bulldog Beginnings events to start Ferris’ new academic year.
“The fall semester brings great excitement to campus as we welcome new and returning students to Ferris State University,” Ward-Roof said. “For the last several years, we have maintained a fairly consistent number of enrolled students, despite the national trends suggesting differently. While enrollment numbers for this fall do show a slight dip, in our new and returning students, we are excited about the arrival of our students on campus and look forward to the year ahead.”
First-year students, this fall, feature a slightly stronger academic profile with a higher composite ACT score, 21.85, up from 21.65, and a mean high school grade point average of 3.26, up from 3.24.
Ferris’ Spring 2016 enrollment was 13,829 students, across all campuses, with 9,168 of those enrolled on main campus.