USM analyst reports mixed enrollment recovery; degree production down since pandemic peak

Budget analyst Sarah Baker presented enrollment, retention and degree data to the House Appropriations Committee Education and Economic Development Subcommittee, summarizing trends across the University System of Maryland (USM).

Baker said overall fall undergraduate enrollment grew 1.6% between 2023 and 2024; when excluding the Global Campus, enrollment increased 0.9%. Seven institutions reported enrollment increases, with the largest institutional percentage increase at University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES, 10.5%). Towson University recorded the largest numeric decrease. After six years of growth, the number of first‑time students declined by 79 (excluding the Global Campus).

Using fall 2019 as a pre‑pandemic baseline, Baker said systemwide enrollment including the Global Campus is 669 students below the 2019 level; excluding the Global Campus, system undergraduate enrollment is down by nearly 6,700 students. She said that three institutions — Towson, Salisbury and Frostburg — account for about 86% of the decline when excluding the Global Campus, reflecting a national trend among regional universities.

Baker also reviewed student composition and outcomes. By fall 2024 underrepresented minority students comprised 41% of the undergraduate body while white students declined from 42% in 2019 to 33% in 2024. Retention for the 2024 cohort was generally 1–2 percentage points below the 2019 cohort at most campuses; Coppin State showed a larger drop (about 9 percentage points). Six‑year graduation rates fell from a peak of 61% for the 2014 cohort to 57% for the 2019 cohort; Baker attributed some of the drop to pandemic‑era enrollment disruptions.

Degree awards rose to a system high in 2022, then fell 4.9% by 2024. Excluding Global Campus awards since 2020, Baker said the system awarded 18,619 degrees in the most recent year — the fewest since 2012. She noted STEM degrees have increased to over 9,500 while health‑profession degrees fell about 15% to just over 2,100. The USM strategic plan sets an ambition to increase STEM and health degrees substantially (the presentation referenced goals of increasing STEM degrees by 10,000 and health professions degrees by 28,500 as planning targets).

Baker emphasized the role of financial aid in student success, noting institutional need‑based aid spending rose and that students who receive institutional aid have higher graduation rates in the six‑year metric. She reported a $38.5 million increase in need‑based aid spending in 2023–24 and cited examples of small institutional grants and endowment income being used to prevent student dropouts.

Committee members asked where Maryland stands nationally on student debt; USM staff said about 59% of undergraduates earned a degree without any student loan debt and that most students with debt carry relatively low balances (Baker and Chad Muntz said approximately one‑third of students with debt have $10,000 or less). The transcript records staff characterizing that figure as a favorable outcome for Maryland residents but does not provide a comprehensive national ranking.

The presentation and the committee exchange emphasized demographic change, the uneven recovery from the pandemic, and the link between aid and degree completion.