Sonoma State University has seen a decline in enrollment since fall 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a decrease in enrollment in schools across the country, and SSU was no exception. 

While the local government continues to lift restrictions and in-person instruction resumes, the Strategic Enrollment team is implementing solutions to attract more students to Sonoma State. 

A strategic enrollment management plan is in effect and has increased the number of students that visit Sonoma State’s campus for tours. Robert Eyler, SSU’s public informant officer, explains, “campus tours are at a record high, with sixty scheduled school visits for as many as two thousand eight hundred fifty-nine students and four hundred thirty-one families visiting our campus.” 

Because of the strategies, enrollment is expected to increase. In fall 2022, the number of first time first year students was the largest increase in 2 years. As of spring 2022, there are five thousand nine hundred ninety-nine students enrolled, which is 14.3% below SSU’s target. With the current plan, SSU has a goal of seven thousand eight hundred and ten students by the 2026-2027 academic year. 

An increase in enrollment can also be attributed to an increase in in-person instruction. In the spring 2023 semester, 77% of courses are in person, opposed to 71% in fall 2022. A Pew Research study found that, “sixty five percent of students preferred in-person instruction, compared to the eighteen percent who prefer a hybrid model and a 9 percent who reported they’d rather learn remotely.” The switch to entirely online courses steered many students away from school. 

Lynn Lyzenga, a pre-nursing student, describes an experience felt by many, stating, “I didn’t have a lot of friends who dropped out, but almost all of them failed classes or barely passed them. They had to repeat semesters because of it, it was really rough.”

While some students already had difficulty with in-person instruction, many factors could contribute to a harder learning experience online.

Harmony Simmons, a third year English major, explains, “lots of colleges were more prepared than others to go online when the pandemic happened, and life has changed for a lot of people. Some people have always struggled, but I think during the pandemic everyone struggled, and the best way colleges could recover from that is to be more easy-going on students.” The transition back to the normal college experience is encouraging the return of SSU’s goal numbers.

While enrollment numbers are lower than target, the campus seems to be busy. The recreation center as well as the student center are always full of students. The newly-renovated Stevenson Hall is attracting more students to that area of campus. Student life still carries on and there are events almost every day. A lot of the students have never had the in-person experience that is returning. 

Yesenia Verduzco, a third year Kinesiology major, states, “Events have influenced students coming here. A lot of us were online when the pandemic started so people didn’t get that exposure to campus. I know that people have been saying enrollment has been dropping over time, but this is the most students I’ve seen on campus since I’ve been here.” Sonoma State’s student life has helped the campus feel more full and busy, and students don’t seem to notice a difference in enrollment.

With the pandemic winding down and campus life returning, we may see pre-pandemic enrollment numbers in the coming academic years.