Central Michigan University is working to implement the Strategic Enrollment Management plan this year that President Neil MacKinnon called the "roadmap for growth." The goal is to put enrollment at about 16,000 to 17,000 students within five years, he said.

"Right now we're about 14,100 students ... we went through a period of decline that has stabilized," MacKinnon said. "This is our second straight year we've had an increase in domestic students."

As Central Michigan Life previously reported, CMU was home to 14,135 students in the fall of 2025. That is over 300 fewer students than in 2024, according to the enrollment reports.

MacKinnon said that he is confident in the 33 strategies of the SEM plan and that a lot of thought has been put into them, so they’re effective. He said 19 of these strategies don’t require extra expenses, such as getting incoming freshmen their enrollment letters early from March/April to December.

"This is the third university I've been part of as far as putting together a plan," MacKinnon said. "It's really worked well the last two, so I hope, and I would say this plan actually is even better than the plans at those two other universities."

A few of the strategies in the SEM are directed specifically at international students, MacKinnon said. These strategies help agents recruit international students. He said, in August, over 600 international students couldn't get their visas to come to CMU, and so the international strategies have been put on pause until more students can start to get their visas.

The office responsible for these strategies, the University Transformation Office, was established last year.

The Transformation Office has also been developing a change roadmap , MacKinnon said. The roadmap contains information gathered by Darcie Wilson, who leads the transformation office, about what people think the university can do better and more. This roadmap will be presented to the board in April.

The roadmap also includes ways to improve leadership at CMU to better implement future changes to the university, Provost Paula Lancaster said. She said that it will address policies that have been roadblocks.

Various projects that were announced in November 2025 at the Board of Trustees’ meetings will happen this year as well, MacKinnon said. For example, the CMU golf facility will break ground this spring, and Merrill Hall renovations are planned for the summer.

Alongside faculty, students have also taken the initiative to be leaders for CMU through Go Grants.

Go Grants are a way for students to submit ideas to help receive funding for various projects, Mackinnon said. Those projects included writing a theme song for CMU, looking at how AI can be used in the curriculum and creating a seminar series.

He said money from the President’s strategic funds was distributed to help create Go Grants for student-led projects. These projects help provide student examples of leadership at CMU.

MacKinnon said he hopes to do a round two of the grants.

The Go Grant Symposia will take place on Feb. 10, 2026, where recipients of the grants will share their projects and their experiences.

Looking into 2026, MacKinnon said his New Year's resolution is for CMU to become a model of a "caring university."

"If we become known as truly a university that cares for our students, faculty and staff, that would be fantastic,” he said.

Lancaster also shared some advice for students as they start the new semester.

“2026 is going to be a great year,” Lancaster said. “So welcome back, and I would just add, be open, keep your eyes open and notice things and people and voices that you might not otherwise listen to. So, meet people as much as you can.”