There's an interactive map in this link where you can click the public university and see the enrollment trends.
https://www.mlive.com/data/2022/10/tuiti...ities.html
There does seem to be a post-COVID acceleration in declines across all schools except for UM and MSU (the rich get richer). And oddly enough the U.P. schools have tended to hold their own vs. the L.P. schools.
That only goes to 2022. In 2023, GVSU, NMU, Ferris, Oakland, MTU and of course UM and MSU recorded increases. WMU, CMU, EMU, Wayne State, LSSU, and SVSU continued falling. Not that sports affiliation applies here, but it's interesting how the MAC schools fell in tandem.
Other than that, I'm not sure why some increase and some decrease. It's a mish-mash of locations.
As far as GVSU, even though 1960 is a while ago, it's a shinier new kid on the block. And being near Grand Rapids, Michigan's largest city outside of Detroit, can have its appeal to kids. About 10 years ago there was an article (maybe on MLive) that compare/contrasted GVSU and WMU and how their enrollments were going in different directions. Don't recall the specifics. But I do remember a few GVSU students interviewed mentioned that recruiters would tout how "safe" GVSU is to them and their parents. Which to me felt like subtle code for something, but I digress.
And on a more modest level, playing for Division II football championships decade after decade can't hurt GVSU's visibility and appeal, and now Ferris too. Oakland down the street from me is growing, and is likely benefitting from more cost-conscious local families who don't want to deal with room and board on top of sky-high tuition, which is understandable.
But yeah, being honest, it's been tough watching GVSU "win" lately in this department.
