UW-Green Bay reports record spring enrollment

GREEN BAY (WLUK) — At a time when some colleges and universities are cutting back due to declining enrollment, UW-Green Bay is growing.

The university released its spring enrollment numbers Thursday, and they’re up across the board. In fact, UWGB reported its highest headcount for a spring semester — 8,239. That number was just over 8,000 a year ago.

Officials say they’re seeing growth across all student types relative to last spring, with a 0.5% increase in undergraduate students, 22.5% increase in graduate and doctoral students and a 4.3% increase in high school students, including Rising Phoenix.

“We are up 2.5% enrollment overall, and that’s really primarily driven by our graduate students, so we are up over 20% for our graduate student population,” said Kate Burns, UWGB provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

According to the data, student headcount at UW-Green Bay in the spring of 2023 was 7,641. It grew to 8,034 in the spring of 2024 and is 8,239 for the spring of 2025.

For student FTE in the spring of 2023, it was 5,480. It grew to 5,751 in the spring of 2024 and is 5,993 for the spring of 2025.

UW-Green Bay attributes the increase to the addition of new programs. The university added a doctorate in applied leadership program this year and an online masters in biodiversity conservation management a few years ago. Both programs are drawing a lot of interest.

“We’ve been really trying to focus on programs that are vital to the region, so that’s where we’ve been focusing on things the community needs. We have an upcoming masters in supply chain management that we’ve been working on with the community, so we’ve been thinking, ‘What else is important for us to have?” said Burns.

Offering programs both in person and online has been a benefit to UWGB, too. It’s helped to not only attract students from the region, but draw international interest, as well.

Burns said, “Even at the undergraduate level, engineering has really been growing, and that’s primarily in person. And then we have things like accounting and organizational leadership, which are also really booming, and those are online and in person for the business. So I think people just want to be able to have that flexibility.”

As it focuses on the future, UWGB says it will continue to look to the region and its needs.

For example, the university is adding a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in the fall, and it has other programs in the works, too. Continuing to support students and offering internship opportunities and hands-on learning remain important part of keeping the momentum growing.

The university says it’s also seeing a more diverse class of students. UW-Green Bay reports a 10.6% increase this spring over last of Hispanic/Latino students.

Students at UW-Green Bay say they can tell enrollment is up.

“Trying to find a parking spot is almost impossible,” said senior Nathan Reszczynski. “But there’s just a lot of people here on campus, and sometimes it feels like a lot of services that are here are being used a lot. There’s a lot of people here.”

Source: UW-Green Bay reports record spring enrollment

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