An unexpected number of graduations were behind this fall’s enrollment decline, a university official said.

For the 2018-2019 academic year, Fresno State enrollment was at a record high 25,200. This year, that number dropped to 23,622.

The cause of the decline: more students graduated than the university anticipated. 

“Our enrollment went down a bit, because a lot of students had graduated,” said Melisa Lee, associate vice president for enrollment management. “We graduated more students, and we brought the same amount of students back. Our numbers would go down.” 

Some students graduated after attending summer courses and fulfilling required credits. By the time those graduate numbers were available, it was too late for the university to issue more acceptance letters.

Additional funding for the 2019-2020 state budget will allow Fresno State to add 610 students for the spring semester. 

Lee said that it would have been great to add those 610 spots for the fall, but the university was unable to do so because it did not know how many openings the funds would provide until July. Lee and her team then had to adjust those numbers for the spring. 

“We don’t want to just admit students just to admit students,” Lee said. “We want to make sure to admit them, and that they’re going to be successful.”

Some 5,400 slots were open strictly for undergraduate students in spring 2019. The number of undergraduate applications submitted was a little more than 25,000.

The number of acceptance letters sent out for the 2019-2020 academic year was 14,677. Of those, 7,167 students accepted. Those numbers include first-time freshmen, transfer students and graduate students.

“Applying to Fresno State was very hectic, making sure that all my requirements were met and making sure that I had good ACT and SAT scores was very stressful,” said Tania Morales, a freshman biology major. “But once I got accepted, everything else was very fun.”  

The admissions office has three teams reviewing the applications that come in. A team of six reviews the freshman applications; a team of five reviews the transfer applications; and a team of two handles graduate applications.

Incoming freshmen are admitted to Fresno State using an index that takes into account GPA, SAT and ACT composite scores and inserts them into a formula that determines which students are to be admitted. Transfer students are admitted based on a transfer GPA.

All students may appeal any decision the admissions office has made. Some students are admitted to the university due to special circumstances.

A committee reviews the students’ reasons for appealing the decision and allows the committee to view other factors that may have caused students to be denied. A student has 15 days after receiving a rejection letter to appeal.

Even though many students get denied, Fresno State has partnered with Fresno City College to establish a program called the Transfer Scholars Program. 

This program was established three years ago to help students remain Fresno State-bound.

A wait list system was used this year, which contained the names of 100 students. Fifty students on the waitlist were freshmen, and 50 were transfer students. 

Acceptance numbers for incoming freshmen were unusually low this year, creating an opportunity for the school to add about 20 students from the waitlist.