Vice President of Student Recruitment and Retention Jennifer DeHaemers presented metrics, statistics and a plan for admitting new students to Central Michigan University.

This presentation was during the Academic Senate meeting on Feb. 13.

DeHaemers said that the metrics for admissions and applications are a bit inflated.

“There’s a new program in the state of Michigan called the Michigan Assurance Admission Program,” she said. “The state wants more kids to go to college.”

DeHaemers showed early metrics for six different types of students CMU was admitting and recruiting:

Main Campus Domestic First Time in Any College (Freshmen)
Main Campus International Freshmen
Online Freshmen
Main Campus Domestic Transfer students
Main Campus International Transfer
Online Transfers

Main Campus Domestic Freshmen

Out of the five presented types, Main Campus Domestic FTIAC had the most applications and admissions.

According to the presentation, 20,323 applied for the fall of 2024 and 17,150 for the year before. This fall,16,631 were admitted so far, while only 14,184 were admitted last fall.

That is an 18.5% rise in applications and a 17.3% rise in admissions. Even though an increase looks good, DeHaemers warned that it could be a problem.

“While it sounds great that we're up 18%, we’re not going to be able to yield an additional 18%,” she said.”

Main Campus International Freshmen

The biggest riser out of the six types was the Main Campus International FTIAC. They had a 31.6% increase in applications and 42.1% increase in admissions.

“This has been a strategic effort on our part for the last couple of years,” DeHaemers said. “We’re making big progress.”

They also have the second most of each with 1,843 applications and 577 admissions for this fall.

Online Freshmen

DeHaemers said that this population tends to be smaller. Even with this size, the applications grew 4.6% and admissions grew 27.4%.

“It’s also quite a ways away from fall so these numbers will pick up,” she said.

Main Campus Domestic Transfer

This category of students was the only one that declined in applications. However, only six less people applied this year than last year with five more admissions.

“We’re about even with our applications as it fluctuates day-to-day and month-to-month,” DeHaemers said.

Main Campus International Transfer

On the other side of transfers, international transfer admissions are down 41%, even though applications have rose 30.7%. One explanation was that processing is down.

“Processing is dependent on the student getting us all of their documentation,” DeHaemers said. “We often wait a little longer for transcripts on transfers.”

Another reason is that United States embassies overseas are not scheduling many visa appointments, directly leading to less international students, she said

Online Transfers

Online transfers applications rose 9.8% and admissions rose 14.3%. They are very middle-of-the-pack as they have the third most applications and the fourth most admissions.