ST. CLOUD — An enrollment decline hit St. Cloud State University this fall, with a roughly 5% drop compared to last year.
About 9,600 students are officially enrolled at the public institution, of which, roughly 7,800 are undergraduate students, according to the SCSU fall 2025 factbook. This is nearly 520 fewer students than last year’s 30-day enrollment count.
Minnesota State universities saw a total 2.3% increase across the system, according to a release, despite SCSU’s decline. The school is the second-largest four-year institution in the Minnesota State system, following Minnesota State University – Mankato.
St. Cloud State hockey junior Barrett Hall reaches for the puck during the opening game of the season against St. Thomas on Oct. 4, 2025 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. SCSU lost 4-3.
This fall, SCSU welcomed nearly 800 incoming freshmen, about 630 undergraduate transfer students and nearly 600 new graduate students, according to SCSU data.
The number of incoming international undergraduate students dropped about 70%, from 197 students in 2024 to 57 students in 2025, according to SCSU.
Undergraduate programs with the highest enrollment are nursing, psychology, computer science, biomedical sciences and information systems, according to SCSU’s fall 2025 factbook. The graduate program with the highest enrollment is a masters of business administration, commonly referred to as an MBA.
The university’s roughly 5% enrollment drop comes after enrollment remained relatively stable between 2023 and 2024. Declining enrollment reduced the institution’s revenue, and sparked SCSU in June 2024 to suspend 42 degree programs and 50 minors, alongside eliminating 54 full-time faculty (13%), 42 staff (8%) and four (13%) administrative positions.
St. Cloud State University recruits at local high schools. About 50 freshmen are from Tech High School, 40 from Apollo High School, 25 from Monticello High School, nearly 20 from Annandale High School and the same from Rocori High School.
“Our local market continues to be the foundation of our student population,” SCSU Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Jason Woods said.
More: St. Cloud State cuts 42 degree programs & 54 full-time faculty
Dual enrollment may help SCSU
While the 30-day enrollment report is down from last year, Woods said high school enrollment, or dual enrollment, could bring the student body population to the 10,000-student mark.
“It is important to remember that the 30-day enrollment report is a snapshot in time,” Woods wrote in a statement. “We will continue to see over 350 students register from our Huskies in the High School program through December. We do not control the timing of these registrations, but they will help us reach our 10,000-student headcount from recent years.”
Previous recruitment insights: St. Cloud State University’s recruitment efforts bring positive results despite challenges
St. Cloud State previously said fall 2025 recruitment efforts were good
St. Cloud State interim President Larry Dietz told the St. Cloud Times in February that the recruitment cycle was going better than expected. SCSU saw an attendance boost for its largest recruitment event, Discover Red and Black. Approximately 620 students attended the event last fall, marking a 136% increase from the 265 students who attended in 2023.
At the same time, SCSU Director of Admissions Michael Hanna said daily visit counts were slightly higher than the same September to February period during the previous year.
“A good gauge for who’s going to be here in the fall is how many folks attend these big visitation events because there’s a strong correlation between the visit and the enrollment,” Dietz said at the time.
The university started a new merchandise giveaway program for select tour dates and added an admissions representative in the Twin Cities market, Hanna previously said.
St. Cloud State University’s student union has a new look.
St. Cloud State performs below other regional institutions in rankings
U.S. News and World Report’s 2026 rankings has SCSU at 33 of 57 regional Midwestern public institutions, which doesn’t include flagship universities like the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, as those institutions are in the national universities category.
Several Minnesota schools rank ahead of SCSU in the Midwestern public schools category. These include the University of Minnesota Duluth at 5th, Winona State University at 7th, Minnesota State University Moorhead at 12th, Minnesota State University-Mankato at 15th and Bemidji State University at 23rd, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The average St. Cloud State University graduate makes $47,200 per year six years after graduating, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Corey Schmidt covers politics and courts for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud State University enrollment back on the decline in fall 2025
