Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

For the first time in ten years, overall enrollment figures increased this year at Central Michigan University. After gains in first-year and transfer students for the last three years, CMU reported year-over-year gains in total enrollment today.

Jayla Turner and Camille Cashen are among Central Michigan University’s expected 2,233 new freshmen, members of the biggest class of first-year students since 2019 and CMU’s third in a row with more people than the previous year.

Emily Starr took a slightly different path to CMU — she enrolled as a transfer student from Mott Community College. Transfer students have also increased in number in the last three years. This year, the university welcomed 971 transfer students for the fall semester.

Together they are part of CMU’s first overall enrollment increase since 2014, with preliminary numbers at 14,666 total students.

Turner, from Troy, was drawn by the reputation of CMU’s integrative public relations program, and the university’s role in helping people grow.

“Everyone seems to come here to find their place,” she said.

Turner’s journey started with participation in IMPACT, a two-day program that helps students from marginalized communities acclimate to campus. Turner said that focus was a big selling point for her.

Cashen, who moved up from Texas for her freshman year, fell in love with campus during a visit last year, especially after learning how CMU will help her achieve her goal of working for the National Park Service as a park ranger.

CMU’s outdoor environmental recreation program is among the best in the country, she said. Her campus visit to CMU was the first she made. None of the other schools she visited came close to measuring up.

“There are so many opportunities here, it felt weird not to come here,” she said. Cashen came to campus earlier to participate in the Leader Advancement Scholars program.

Cashen also continues a family tradition of attending CMU. Her mother, an alumnus and former employee, encouraged her to think about the university. She also has extended family living in the Mount Pleasant area, which she called a nice security blanket.

Starr opted to finish her bachelor’s at CMU in part because it was the right distance from her hometown of Flint, close enough for a weekend visit but far enough that she can start to live on her own.

She is among the first round of Centralis transfer scholars. This new track in one of CMU’s signature scholarship programs provides $5,000 a semester for five semesters, plus another $5,000 for studying distant from CMU, said Patty Williamson, director of the CMU Honors Program.

Starr will use the scholarship to study speech language pathology. The program’s reputation for excellence grabbed her interest, and so did the Health Professions Building’s bright, open feel.

The three came from different places and have different aspirations, but they share one thing in common with each other and the biggest incoming body of freshman and transfer students in more than half a decade: CMU is where their future begins.