2024 Enrollment
09/20/2024
First-year and graduate numbers on the rise
Bluffton University is seeing gains in areas such as out-of-state enrollment and graduate enrollment. The number of full-time students enrolled at Bluffton, including both undergraduate and graduate programs, is 641.
“Many higher education institutions felt the pain points from the FAFSA delays,” said Claire Kleman, interim vice president of advancement and enrollment management. “Bluffton felt these pain points, too, but despite that, we still brought in more than 200 new undergraduate students to Bluffton this fall.”
The incoming 2024 class is comprised of 190 traditional undergraduate students and 13 transfer students and is up from a year ago. Eighty of the first-year students are from out of state, also an increase from last year. They represent 12 states including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Michigan.
Popular majors for this year’s first-year class include business administration, criminal justice, exercise science, pre-physical therapy and sport management. The class average GPA is 3.319 with 21 first-year students at or above a 4.0. Full-time enrollment for the 2024-25 academic year is down a bit after a few strong years.
On the graduate side, enrollment is steady with 30 new students enrolled. This is due in part to the addition of new graduate programs in social work and dietetics alongside longstanding graduate programs in business and education.
Now that census day, the day of the official enrollment count at a college or university, has passed all enrollment efforts are fully focused on the entering class of 2025.
“Recruiting for the fall 2025 class at Bluffton University is well underway and our funnel size is trending with last year’s, which was the largest funnel Bluffton has had in the last 10 years,” said Kleman. “We hope to continue the trend of building upon last year’s successes despite entering into the first year of the national enrollment cliff.”
At Bluffton University, our sense of a greater purpose develops students of exceptional character and expansive vision. For 125 years, we’ve been learning, experiencing and bettering the world together.
Located on a 65-acre residential campus in northwest Ohio and lined with abundant natural beauty, Bluffton University offers more than 90 majors, minors and programs for undergraduate students. Bluffton also offers graduate programs in business administration (MBA), dietetics (MND), education (MAEd) and social work (MSW).
Founded in 1899 and affiliated with Mennonite Church USA, Bluffton graduates are prepared for life; 94 percent are employed, in graduate school or completing long-term service within six months of graduation.