UW nonresident enrollment down, but transfers up

The University of Wyoming reported significant increases in transfer and graduate students that helped make up for an unexpected drop in first-time students at UW this fall.

While appearing on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse, UW Director of Institutional Communications Chad Baldwin, spoke on the recruitment and retention of students from out of state, something that the university has always seen issues with in the past.  

But this semester’s enrollment isn’t all in the red, according to the University, 858 new transfer students represent an 8.6 percent increase from the 790 in fall 2022, including an 11.9 percent increase in in-state transfers. And the 2,663 graduate students are up 3.1 percent from the 2,582 last fall.

UW’s overall enrollment of 10,913 is down 1.7 percent from 11,100 in fall 2022, although the number of students from Wyoming is up by 4 percent. This is according to census data collected on the 15th day of classes, used because that day falls after the class drop/add deadlines and after the first tuition and fee payment is due.

After two straight years of increases in UW’s first-time freshman classes — including a 10.2 percent increase last fall — this year’s first-time headcount is down 10.1 percent. The University reports that is primarily a result of a 14.4 percent drop in out-of-state freshmen, from 658 to 583. This year’s freshman class includes 900 Wyoming residents, down 7.1 percent from last fall, when the 969 first-time students from Wyoming was the second-largest number ever recorded at UW.

According to Baldwin, the recruitment and retention of nonresident students is something the administration is taking seriously, and working hard to address, but Wyoming students will always be the priority at UW.  

The University reports that the percentage of full-time freshmen in fall 2022 who returned to UW this fall is 77.0 percent, up from last year’s fall-to-fall retention rate of 75.4 percent.