La Salle University saw a 40% jump in first-year students, as schools across the region see enrollments trending up
First-year enrollments at many area colleges are trending upward, but schools caution that final numbers won't be available until a little later in the semester.
La Salle University reopened two newly remodeled residence halls last month to help accommodate its largest incoming class since 2018.
The Catholic university enrolled more than 700 new first-year full-time students, up about 200, or 40%, over last year. The school achieved the spurt in new enrollment while decreasing the percentage of students it accepts and making the school a bit more selective, said president Daniel J. Allen. The school also lowered the percentage of grant aid it gives out, known as its discount rate, he said.
La Salle, which has struggled with declining enrollment and tight finances in recent years, attributes the jump to the start of four new sports teams, an expansion in degree programs, and — most importantly — an increased focus on the student experience, Allen said.
» READ MORE: La Salle University’s enrollment dropped 28% since 2019. What is the school doing to cope?
“La Salle is a hot school right now,” Allen said. “It’s related to our hyper focus on student outcomes and student success. Every time we speak with prospective students and their families, we really lean on our focus on their individual students’ success.“
The private university in the city’s Logan section also reports a jump in transfer students and projects that its overall enrollment, which stood at 3,550 last academic year, will be up for the first time since before the pandemic. But La Salle said it will not have final numbers until its official census in mid-September.
La Salle still has a way to go. Allen declined to say how the school finished the 2025 fiscal year financially because audited results weren’t yet available, but said the increased enrollment this year will help the school’s financial picture. And the school was warned by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in July that its accreditation might be in jeopardy regarding its compliance with planning, resources, and institutional advancement standards.
The school has until February to submit a report, and Allen told the campus at the time that officials are well aware of the financial challenges the school faces and are taking appropriate steps to address them.
While La Salle’s percentage increase in freshmen appears to be ahead of other colleges in the region, the vast majority reported increases or stable numbers for this fall, while cautioning that final tallies aren’t yet available.
» READ MORE: La Salle has a plan to attract more students: Revive baseball, add several women’s sports, start a band
That’s even though some schools are taking a hit on international enrollment. Rowan University, the University of Delaware, Thomas Jefferson University, Widener University, Pennsylvania State University, and Haverford College all said they have or project to have fewer international students than last year.
Some schools cited federal policies under President Donald Trump, including a pause in visa interviews.
But more than a third of the nearly 30 schools queried, including La Salle, also projected their overall enrollment would be up this year.
Temple University anticipates a slight overall enrollment increase for the first time since 2017, and is forecasting an uptick in international students, too. The North Philadelphia school, where enrollment stood just over 30,000 last year, estimates it will enroll between 5,400 and 5,500 first-year students, its largest class ever, up 10% to 12% over last year.
The University of Delaware’s first-year students increased by 9% to 4,650 and overall enrollment is estimated to be up about 500 students, the school said. That’s even though the school expects a 19% decline in international graduate students, as well as a drop in undergraduate international students.
Some other schools with large percentage jumps in first-year students include:
Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia has 948 new first-year students, up 36% from last year and standing as its largest-ever incoming class.
Immaculata University has more than 450 new undergraduate and transfer students, up 35% from the prior fall. The Chester County Catholic school this fall converted a former residence for the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), Immaculata’s founding order, into a residence hall for 56 students.
Gwynedd Mercy University has a 29% increase in new students, resulting in a wait-list for on-campus housing in addition to having 42 students living at the Staybridge Suites in North Wales. The private Catholic school in Gwynedd Valley this fall is relocating its occupational therapy program so that it can add another 33 beds in the spring.
Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia has 275 new first-year and transfer students, its largest group since before COVID-19 and up 16% from last year.
Eastern University, a private Christian school in St. Davids, also reported continued enrollment growth, largely through its online programming and addition of sports, including football.
Several universities, including Arcadia in Glenside, Holy Family in Philadelphia, Delaware Valley in Doylestown, and West Chester, said their first-year enrollments would be relatively the same as last year. Arcadia noted it was the second consecutive year of more than 600 first-year students.
Of the few that reported declines in first-year enrollment, Ursinus College in Collegeville cited the most pronounced drop. The school’s 342 first-year students represent a 10% decline from last year. Overall undergraduate enrollment stands at 1,406, down 6.4% or 96 students from last year.
“Our incoming class is not where we want it to be, but our research and data showed that this year was going to be a tougher one for us...,” said Lauren Sciocchetti, assistant vice president of admission.
She said a marketing study indicated that Ursinus would continue to see declines without strategic changes and that’s why in April, it launched a new program, APEX, to better align academics with experiential learning and career prep.
The college is offering students up to $2,000 for internships, team-based career coaching and advising, and a week for first-year students devoted to real world problem solving.
Several universities, including Penn State and Drexel in Philadelphia, declined to provide numbers until official tallies are available later this semester.
Penn State announced in May that it would be closing seven of its Commonwealth campuses that have struggled with enrollment after the 2026-27 year; it’s unknown whether those campuses have taken an enrollment hit this fall as a result of that plan.
» READ MORE: Villanova agreed to put $40 million into Rosemont College as part of acquisition
Rosemont College, which announced in March that it would cease operations in 2028 and that its campus would be merged into Villanova University, did not respond to a query about its enrollment.
La Salle ‘turning the corner’
La Salle has had a tough go of it in recent years. Its overall enrollment had dropped more than 46% from 2019 to spring of 2024. Its applications and yield rate — the percentage of students admitted who enroll — also had fallen. And its core operating losses had mushroomed, while its revenues fell.
» READ MORE: Financially Fragile
But in April 2024, Allen laid out La Salle’s multiyear plan to begin to turn the school’s finances around and dig out of a deficit.
Since then, the school has combined academic departments and administrative oversight positions; added several sports, cheer and dance clubs, and a band and expanded degree programs in growing and niche areas. It also has been selling property it deems expendable to generate revenue.
Allen said the school is starting to see benefits from those efforts. La Salle, he said, is expecting about 900 new students in total this year, including a boost in transfer students and 21 students in its newly opened Miguel Campos School to house its associate degree programs.
La Salle for decades has offered associate degree programs for students whose first language is not English, but recently the university began to add to that portfolio. It has launched new associate degree majors in business administration and health studies.
“We anticipate this is going to be a forward-looking growth market for us,” Allen said.
A chunk of the growth can be attributed to the new sports teams — men’s baseball, women’s rugby, triathlon, and acrobatics and tumbling — which brought in 90 students. Cheer, dance, and band, which started last year, brought in 35.
An additional 300 students will be living in college housing this year, raising the total to 1,060 and driving the decision to reopen the two residence halls, which got new lighting, furniture, landscaping, and air-conditioning.
La Salle this year accepted 82.5% of applicants, down from 87% in 2024, as the school intentionally tries to become more selective. The school’s pre-pandemic rate was 75%.
Allen noted that La Salle’s yield rate — the percentage of students admitted who enrolled — increased by 2 percentage points to 12.5% this year. It was 15% in 2019.
Its discount rate — that’s the average percentage of institutional aid a student receives — decreased 2 percentage points to 60%. It’s down 6 percentage points from 2023, Allen said. That is helping to boost La Salle’s net tuition revenue. (The national average for discount rates for first-time, full-time undergraduates at private colleges in 2024-25 was 56.3%, according to Inside Higher Education.)
“This all signals that we are turning the corner and the strategies that we are putting in place and the work that we’re doing is leading to this success,” Allen said.
The school, Allen said, is focused on providing access to careers in well-paying industries and touting the success of La Salle alumni. The school in 2024 launched a sport management degree, recognizing that Philadelphia is a big sports town. Twenty-four first-year students are enrolled in the program, ranking the third-most popular major among freshmen in the business school, he said. The students will have a lot of role models.
“The vice president of finance for the Phillies, a La Salle alum,” he said. “Vice president of finance for the Eagles, La Salle alum. Controller for the Sixers, La Salle alum.”