Iowa universities report enrollment bumps this fall

IOWA CITY — All three of Iowa’s public universities have larger student bodies this fall than last — as of their official 10th-day census — including a small bump for the University of Northern Iowa, which has seen its enrollment trend down for more than a decade.

UNI’s total fall enrollment of 9,021 is up 72 students from last fall’s 8,949 — although it’s still below all of the previous falls dating to 1967 and well below its peak of 14,070 in 2001.

Its incoming freshmen class of 1,552, however, represents an 8 percent rebound over last fall’s slide of a similar percentage to 1,436 from 1,554 in fall 2021. Aiding with the recovery was a new partnership UNI established with Iowa community colleges — called “UNI@IACC” — that offered associate-degree earners from any of Iowa’s 15 community colleges the option to seamlessly transfer to UNI and complete an online bachelor’s degree in high-demand areas like criminal justice.

That program attracted 348 students in its first year, contributing to an 18-percent one-year spike in UNI transfer students in fall 2022. This fall, UNI’s new student cohort included 857 transfer students, representing a 12 percent bump over last year and the highest UNI transfer tally since 2017.

“UNI continues to be a destination of choice for community college students seeking a four-year degree, with 73 percent of new transfer students coming from one of Iowa’s community colleges,” according to a UNI news release. “Enrollment in UNI’s partnership with Iowa community colleges, known as UNI@IACC, has grown dramatically with a 68 percent increase over last year.”

Largest in Iowa

The University of Iowa also reported a slight total student body increase from 30,015 last fall to 30,042 this fall, as did Iowa State University — reporting 30,177 students, up 208 from last year’s 29,969.

ISU’s increase makes it — once again — the largest of Iowa’s three public universities, returning it to that position after UI enrollment surpassed that of the Ames campus last fall for the first time in a decade.

“This growth is a direct result of Iowa State University’s commitment to provide innovative programs that meet student interest and workforce needs,” ISU President Wendy Wintersteen said in a statement, pointing to its "Degrees of the Future“ initiative aimed at dedicating $1.5 million for new programs addressing workforce demands.

“We are continuing to develop new programs and majors that will prepare students for high-demand careers and help Iowa businesses and industry thrive,” Wintersteen said.

ISU also reported a larger freshman class, at 5,859 — up 2 percent from last fall’s 5,728, a number that had bounced up 13 percent after a steep pandemic slide of 9 percent in fall 2020.

The University of Iowa was the only of the three to report a smaller freshman class this fall than last, with 5,064 first-year students compared with last fall’s 5,178.

Grade inflation

But UI officials boasted of this fall’s “academically accomplished” freshmen class — reporting it “has topped previous records with an average high school grade-point average of 3.83.” The average GPA for last year’s freshmen cohort was 3.82 and the one before it was 3.81 — both of which the university at the time touted as having a higher average high school GPA “than any previous class.”

But high school GPA has been on the rise nationally since 2010, according to a new ACT, Inc. report released last week.

Over the 12 years from 2010 to 2022, ACT found the average adjusted math GPA rose from 3.02 to 3.32, according to the report that identified grade inflation in not just math but science, English, and social studies.

“While average GPAs have risen over the past 12 years across all core academic subjects, this has not corresponded with improvements in other measures of academic achievement, particularly in mathematics,” ACT CEO Janet Godwin said in a statement.

“We already knew that grade inflation is a persistent, systemic problem, common across classrooms, districts, and states. We now know that grade inflation is happening across the entire curriculum, and is most pronounced for mathematics, as average grades have gone up at the same time as we have seen alarming declines in mathematics scores and other readiness measures.”

Iowa State also reported an average high school GPA increase for this fall’s freshmen class to 3.73, up from 3.71 in fall 2022 and 3.7 in fall 2021. UNI did not immediately report its freshmen high school GPA average for the new freshman cohort.

ACT said grade inflation is when the “assignment of grades does not align with content mastery.” Across all subjects it examined over the 12-year span, the percent of students given Bs and Cs declined, while those given A’s increased. The higher grades, according to ACT, were not associated with improved achievement on the standardized ACT exam.

“This makes it more difficult to use GPA to understand students’ academic achievement and preparation for college,” Edgar I. Sanchez, a lead research scientist at ACT and author of the report, said in a statement. “Grade inflation is making grades a less reliable measure of how well a student is performing academically and how prepared they are for future endeavors, including college.”

Student body breakdowns

Although this year’s UI freshmen class is slightly smaller than the last, it still ranks as its fourth-largest. About 20 percent of the UI freshman class reported being the first in their family to attend college; and another 20 percent identified as a racial minority.

Those percentages are on par with the university’s first-year undergraduate class last fall, although the actual numbers are down slightly among both cohorts.

This fall’s first-year UI students include 2,688 who have some transfer credit. Of its total 22,130 undergraduates, 1,090 are transfer students.

Of UNI’s 1,552 freshmen, 90 percent are from Iowa — although its total enrollment includes students from 45 states and 53 countries.

About 52 percent of UI freshmen are from Iowa, with out-of-state students representing 45 states and 44 countries. ISU, reporting those details for its total student body, said students represent all 99 Iowa counties, all 50 states and 117 countries.

ISU reported 4,845 graduate and veterinary medicine students, up from last year’s 4,728. The UI reported 7,912 graduate and professional students, down from last year’s 8,042. And UNI has 1,279 graduate students this fall — including 632 new grad students — representing a 6 percent increase over last fall’s 1,210 total.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com