BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — It's move-in week for students at Bowling Green State University and the college is welcoming nearly 3,900 students from across Ohio and more than 30 states.
It'll be a packed campus as the college welcomes one of its largest and highest-achieving first-year enrollments, setting a new record.
"While the class is quite large, we have been planning for this and we've pivoted and we've made sure that every single new student coming in that wants to live on campus is living on campus," said BGSU president Rodney Rodgers.
Compared to last fall, the enrollment percentage is up 12%, and up by 22% compared to the fall of 2022.
Rodgers said the GPA and ACT scores of incoming freshmen are higher than in previous years, averaging 3.69 for GPAs and 21.9 for ACTs.
"We have some unique programs that have really brought a lot of national attention to Bowling Green," Rodgers said. "We are seeing we had a 21% increase in out-of-state."
Rodgers said STEM and healthcare programs have the most students.
While BGSU is seeing an increase in attendees, that has not been the case for Ohio as a state.
According to data from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, there's been a continuous decrease statewide in the number of people enrolled in public institutions over the years.
Some students believe it could be the cost of education.
"I can understand why kids, Gen Z kids now, can't afford to go to college," Michael Aunst, a junior at BGSU said. "I mean, it's almost $15,000 in just tuition to go here."
He said he's not sure if he would have been able to go to college had it not been for the scholarships he heavily applied for.
Rodgers said scholarships have been able to make a difference for students attending Bowling Green.
They recently passed out more than 240 scholarships as part of a new program called Thompson Working Families to help high-achieving students overcome barriers to higher education.