YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Higher learning institutions in Ohio aren’t facing an enrollment cliff so much as a plateau, according to one Youngstown State University official.
And YSU administrators are devising ways to address it.
“I want to particularly talk about Ohio and the enrollment cliff because we’re really on an enrollment plateau more than a cliff here,” Tysa Egleton, YSU’s associate vice president of strategic enrollment, said Wednesday during a trustees Academic Excellence and Student Success Committee meeting. “In our region, we will not see additional growth, but there will be additional growth throughout the state.”
She pointed to counties north of Columbus and between Dayton and Cincinnati.
“So we do have some opportunities to shift our regional map and to try to pull in additional traditional-age students from those areas,” Egleton said.
She learned through data from the National Student Clearinghouse that of the students admitted to YSU last fall who didn’t enroll, 1,000 of them went to Kent State University, the University of Akron, The Ohio State University, Ohio University or Bowling Green State University, in that order.
Egleton said her office is going to start to examine more of that data to determine the programs those students chose to try to engage with that population to get them to commit to YSU.
President Bill Johnson said when he’s spoken with students who have transferred to YSU from other schools, the reason they didn’t enroll at YSU in the first place was because they wanted to leave home.
Nadia Zarbaugh, student trustee, concurred.
“I think a lot of time, they’re choosing these colleges not because of academics or really anything they have to offer – mostly with the exception of Ohio State because they do have some good programs up there. … People just don’t want to be near their parents. They want to get away.”
Egleton said she’s met with Joy Polkabla Byers,
vice president of student affairs and dean of students, and they talked about refocusing and selling the idea that students can have the full college experience at YSU.
Still, it will take about a decade before the number of college-age students increases in the region, she said.
“That’s why it’s going to be much more emphasis on, we have to reduce our yield, reduce our conversion and protect this core environment that we have,” the associate vice president said.
This fall’s headcount is 12,423 students, compared with 12,420 last year and 12,164 in fall 2024. But the number of first-time undergraduate students fell nearly 22%, from 1,826 last fall to 1,428 this fall.
Eric Spiegel, global trustee, said if a plateau is the new normal, YSU needs to rebuild its business model accordingly.
Egleton agreed, adding that service needs more emphasis as part of enrollment. Prospective students aren’t just comparing YSU to Kent or Akron. They’re comparing it to Amazon, expecting to get their questions answered and find the information they need 24/7 on their phones.
Moreover, students don’t make enrollment decisions the way they used to, Egleton said. They may enroll for a semester and then leave. They may enroll at one institution and transfer to another, she explained.
“And so we have to now refocus ourselves that we’re not recruiting once – we are recruiting every single term to keep our continuing students,” she said.
Johnson said YSU can’t do anything about the country’s declining birth rate.
“This is not a problem that’s going to get easier to solve,” the president said. “It’s going to be a problem that is going to become increasingly difficult to solve in terms of the business model and the net that we’re going to have to throw to find student enrollment. The good news in all of that is that affordability and quality factor into where students go to school, and that’s where we have an edge here at Youngstown State.”
At the trustees’ Finance and Facilities Committee meeting, also Wednesday, the panel approved rate changes for campus housing for 2027-28. The change must be approved by the full trustees board, which is set to meet Thursday morning.
Byers said the university has made changes to address challenges with student housing.
“But one of the things we did is really look at our housing pricing and what we offer,” Byers said. “And this year, we are proposing a rate freeze for students entering under the Penguin Tuition Promise for the ’27-28 academic year and maintaining the $6,000 per semester or $12,000 [per year] for housing.”
The proposal also includes reducing the per semester single-room premium from $1,750 to $1,000. That makes private room spaces more accessible and affordable for students, according to a document included in the meeting agenda.
The rate freeze would also apply to apartment housing options, including University Courtyard Apartments and graduate and family housing at Weller House.
“Freezing housing rates for incoming students demonstrates our commitment to supporting families as they continue to navigate rising costs across many aspects of daily life,” the document said. “By maintaining affordable on-campus housing options, we reinforce YSU’s broader efforts to provide an accessible and cost-conscious educational experience.”
And the housing application process will launch Nov. 1 rather than Feb. 1, allowing students to secure housing arrangements sooner and encourage continued residency, Byers said.
The rate changes don’t apply to Kilcawley House, which is closed this academic year because of ongoing renovations at Kilcawley Center.
“We’re looking at doing some renovations in Kilcawley [House], making some more single pod restrooms to make them more attractive,” she said.
Pictured at top: From left are Nadia Zarbaugh, student trustee; Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata, global trustee; Trustee Laura Lyden; Eric Spiegel, global trustee; Trustee Sterling Williams; YSU President Bill Johnson; Trustee Chuck George, chairman; Trustee Joseph Kerola, vice chairman; and Jeffery Kollar, student trustee. Trustee Sergul Erzurum is pictured on screen at left.