Freshmen enrollment up at Saginaw Valley State University

SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is seeing more freshmen enrollment at the university in comparison to prior years.

For the 2024 fall semester, there are 1,356 incoming freshmen than there were last year, which was 1,292. SVSU said this is an increase of just under 6% in its enrollment.

Additionally, the university has 347 transfer students for the 2024 fall semester in comparison to the 319 transfers from the year before- a nearly 9% increase.

"We worked incredibly hard throughout the past year, spending extra time with new students and families, and making sure our information was accurate, and those efforts paid off," said Ken Fettig, SVSU vice president for Enrollment Management. "This was a very challenging enrollment cycle, given all the FAFSA problems at the federal level, which put us, and others, several months behind the typical schedule."

Fettig began working at SVSU in October 2023.

"As someone relatively new to SVSU, I was impressed by the dedication and the care I saw from colleagues across the university. They were determined to help each and every student," he said.

In sum, there are 6,822 students enrolled at the university for the 2024 fall semester. There were 6,889 students enrolled last year.

Despite student enrollment being slightly down, SVSU's retention rate increased. Just over 77% of the freshman class of 2023 returned for their second year. SVSU said this returns the rate previously reached prior to disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Classes at SVSU began on Monday, Aug. 26.