Enrollment at Wright State climbs for third consecutive year

The number of first-time undergraduate students at Wright State University has increased by 44% over the last three years and is up 17.5% compared to fall 2023.

Wright State welcomed 2,012 first-time undergraduate students for the fall 2024 semester, compared to 1,394 students in the fall of 2021 and 1,713 last year.

This is the third consecutive year that the number of first-time students at Wright State increased by more than 10%.

The number of new graduate, transfer, and College Credit Plus students also increased at Wright State this fall.

For the fall semester, the total student headcount at Wright State’s Dayton and Lake campuses is 11,822, a 7.12% increase from last fall’s headcount of 11,036.

This is the third consecutive year total enrollment has increased at Wright State, the public university dedicated to filling the region’s workforce needs.

“Wright State is excited to welcome more than 2,000 new students to our campuses. We are experiencing enrollment growth at a time when national, state, and local enrollment trends are moving the other way,” said Susan Schaurer vice president for enrollment management. “Our fall enrollment is another indicator of Wright State’s continued momentum and success. College must be affordable and we have one of the lowest undergraduate tuition rates in the state. Wright State is committed to providing an affordable high-quality education, and we are thrilled that students and families are recognizing the value of a Wright State degree.”

Nursing is the most popular major for new students this fall and the first-time cohort includes students pursuing a degree in Wright State’s newly launched aviation program.

The retention rate for 2023 first-year students on the Dayton Campus is 68.4%, an increase of 5.6% from last fall, an institutional record for first-year retention. ​

This fall, Wright State welcomed 99 recipients of the Governor’s Merit Scholarship, a new State of Ohio initiative that awards a $5,000 renewable scholarship to students in the top 5% of their high school graduating class.

Wright State’s Take Flight Program, which provides eligible students with a tuition-free education, continues to be a success, with 245 students in the program’s third cohort, a 52% increase in students since the program launched in 2022.

Overall, 2,983 undergraduate students at Wright State, or 39.2%, are Pell Grant recipients, exceeding the national average of 34%, according to 2023 data from the Educational Data Initiative. More than 40% of the students in the first-time cohort are Pell Grant recipients.

Last week, Wright State was recognized in the Wall Street Journal’s 2025 America’s Best Colleges rankings as No. 1 among Ohio’s public universities for social mobility.

The social mobility ranking scores colleges and universities on a variety of factors, including the number of years to pay off the net price, the extent to which a university boosts its graduates’ salaries beyond what they would be expected to earn regardless of which college they attended, the proportion of students who receive Pell Grants, and the graduation rates of students receiving Pell Grants. The ranking rewards universities that both take in a high proportion of students from lower family incomes and do a great job of making certain they graduate.

“Wright State continues to fulfill our mission and the intent of a regional institution of higher education,” said Wright State President Susan Edwards. “A college degree shouldn’t equate to a lifetime of debt. Instead, it should change the trajectory of a student’s life. The Wall Street Journal’s social mobility ranking recognizes the impact a Wright State degree is having on the lives of our students. To be first among Ohio’s public universities further acknowledges that an investment in a degree from Wright State will pay dividends for a lifetime.”

This positive news for Wright State comes on the heels of the university receiving a perfect Senate Bill 6 score from the State of Ohio, its enhanced affiliation agreement with Premier Health, which will transform medical care and health education in the community, and the continued work in collaboration with and support of Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the largest single-site employer in Ohio.