According to the St. Cloud Times our enrollment was 15,444 students this fall compared to 15,719 last fall.

The university's strategic plan calls for enrollment of 15,000 to 16,000 students. The university has implemented waiting lists the past two years to limit the number of students it accepts, largely because of budget cuts and limited classes.

"This was a very tightly balanced year," said Michael Spitzer, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "It was important that we maintain our enrollment."

But a 2% decline in enrollment would mean a loss of almost $1 million in state budget for students, and about that again in lost tuition, right? Well not so fast, because it turns out students are registering for more coursework than before, so the net effect is a much less than 200 students (indeed, based on one internal report it looks like it's less than 70.) Maybe if we do a better job of holding onto the students we have, we won't worry so much about how many new students we enroll.