By Jessica Bies

The Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — While preliminary numbers show enrollment at Minnesota State University is higher than it was 10 years ago, St. Cloud State University is in its fifth straight year of decline.

MSU overtook St. Cloud in terms of enrollment two years ago, according to numbers from the Minnesota State Colleges and University system. In 2012, enrollment at St. Cloud dropped for the second year in a row, going from 14,976 full-year equivalent students to 13,938. In comparison, MSU’s enrollment continued to rise, hitting 14,443 full-year equivalents in 2012.

Both colleges lost students in 2013 — St. Cloud dropped to 13,053 and MSU to 14,194.

Preliminary numbers show MSU’s overall enrollment will either increase or remain steady this year, said Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management David Jones.

“We’re excited to be able to share that it will be our fifth year in a row where we eclipsed 15,000 students,” Jones said.

The number is a headcount of all students, he said. For the fall semester, there are 6,583 full-year equivalents which, so far, is up 0.4 percent from last year. Total enrollment sits at about 15,200 students, the university’s 10th or 11th largest enrollment. Last year’s was 15,409. The college has also, for the first time in its history, eclipsed 1,000 international students.

Both numbers are likely to change slightly during the course of the month, as students continue to enroll or drop out, Jones said. But the college is still setting records.

“We’ve been on a roll here really since 2002, when President (Richard) Davenport came on board,” he said.

MnSCU’s second largest institution, St. Cloud State, is not seeing the same growth. There, enrollment may have dipped by up to 5 percent this fall, but university officials say they won’t know until the end of the month, the St. Cloud Times recently reported.

In fact, nearly every institution in the MnSCU system is expecting enrollment declines. Systemwide, enrollment is expected to drop 3.5 percent this year.

The low numbers have led to budgetary issues at more than one of the institutions. Though the legislature recently signed off on a two-year tuition freeze, fees that support auxiliary facilities such as residence halls, student unions, parking and more, are going up. Across the entire system, room and board fees will increase an average of 3.65 percent and student union fees will increase by an average of 1.55 percent in fiscal year 2015, according to the finance committee.

Riverland Community College, which is part of MnSCU, does not yet have enrollment numbers available.