Enrollment data and analysis

Enrolled is measured as the number of enrolled students at the end of each semester in each declared major or pre-major (students tend to formally declare their major until late in the program, hence we include the pre-major's interest area). The charts below show enrollment for the College of Business and Management programs.

Undergrad: The following programs are steadily increasing in enrollment: Bus Admin, HRM, Finance, MIS, and Supply Chain. The following programs are relatively stable in enrollment: Info Assurance, Accounting, Management and Marketing. The following programs are trending downwards: Org Admin, and Intl Business, both of which are quite small programs.

Graduate: The MBA program overall is trending significantly downwards in enrollment, but the enrollment in those enrolled in an MBA with a concentration are increasing consistently. The number of students enrolled in the MMIS program is fairly constant. The number of students enrolled in the DBA program is decreasing - see the analysis for an interpretation of this trend. The analysis of the variation of many of the results is as follows: Given that our student population is centered around working adults, often with families, and relatively low income, our students opt in and out of courses based on the situation in their lives.

All but two of the undergraduate programs are either trending upwards or holding stable, which is quite good considering the national trend of decreasing enrollment. The decrease in enrolled MBA students is expected to be due to increased competition from local and online MBA programs, which are heavily marketed. However, the specialized concentrations are increasing in enrollment possibly because of the perception that the concentration will better position the students for specific jobs in Finance and MIS. The decrease in enrollment for the DBA program is a good sign, since most of those enrollees are still working on their dissertations. Since 2014, the backlog of students who were ABD has been reduced, thereby also reducing the number of students enrolled in DBA credits.

The improvements made over the last four years include the following:

Undergraduate: There are two underperforming programs. BAS in Org Admin is a degree specifically targeted as those students who receive an AAS at a Minnesota State Technical College. Therefore, we have increased our outreach to those colleges, and, for instance, started a program with Hennepin Tech College that promotes completing their BAS degree on their college location (taught by Metropolitan State).

With respect to the MBA program, improvements have been made to help conversion of admitted students to enrolled students, including a customized mailing that looks very professional and staying in close contact between admittance and enrollment.

Majors and pre-majors enrolled in each undergraduate major: 2014-2017

Graduate students enrolled in each degree: 2014-2017