Indiana University of Pennsylvania has achieved a 6.5 percent overall increase in enrollment in spring 2024 compared to the spring 2023 semester.
The university also has achieved a 90.1 percent retention rate of new, first-time, full-time bachelor’s degree-seeking students for the spring 2024 semester, the highest fall-to-spring retention rate for a cohort since 2010.
This cohort also had strong academic success in their first semester: more than 13 percent of this group earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average, joining a total of 19.4 percent of undergraduates at all levels who achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the fall semester.
The number of credits for which undergraduates are enrolled for the spring semester compared to the 2023 spring semester is up by almost 6 percent: up by 5.6 percent for undergraduate students and up by 9 percent for graduate students.
IUP’s spring semester total enrollment includes 8,536 students: 6,501 undergraduates, 1,726 students in graduate programs, and 309 students in career preparation programs. Career preparation programs include the Academy of Culinary Arts, the paramedic program, the Criminal Justice Training Center, the Emergency Medical Program, and the school resource officer training program.
IUP began the 2023–24 academic year with a new student success infrastructure, providing proactive, direct support to all students in all programs, at all levels, and at all sites.
While the student success infrastructure is a multifaceted and comprehensive initiative, one of the most visible parts of the program are the navigators: 18 frontline, full-time IUP staff members assigned to individual students who proactively engage with students and their support network. Every IUP student now has an assigned navigator to help them persist and succeed. The student success infrastructure also includes a data and technology emphasis and an Academic Advising Center.
“When we launched our student success infrastructure in summer 2023, we made it clear that becoming a more student-centered university was everyone’s responsibility, that we must work together to provide every student at every level, in every program, with the support and resources they need to be successful to complete their studies and achieve their goals,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said.
“The retention rate, increased enrollment, and the academic success of our students is very, very encouraging news, reflecting the hard work of the entire university community and our focus on student success above all,” he said.
“It is exciting to witness how the collective efforts of both the newly recruited members of the student success team and long-time university partners are coming together to achieve the shared goal of student success,” Strategic Advisor to the President for Student Success Paula Stossel said.
“Since the launch of the student success infrastructure, the University College has experienced a 65 percent increase in the number of student meetings, with more than 2,500 meetings recorded in the fall semester,” Vice Provost for Student Academic Success Amber Racchini said.
“Our proactive and customized outreach has helped us to remove barriers while connecting students with the resources they need. We will continue to build upon the successes of the program and refine this ongoing work in order to provide the best possible outcomes for our students,” Racchini said.
A total of 521 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and 34 students in career preparation programs completed their studies in the fall 2023 semester.
In fall 2023, IUP increased its overall enrollment by nearly 5 percent and its enrollment of new, first-time, full-time, bachelor’s degree-seeking students by 16 percent, the first time in 11 years that overall enrollment has increased at the university.