Chancellor Kent Syverud began his address at a University Senate meeting in March by telling the senate body that admissions were up in all the schools and colleges at Syracuse University.

Almost seven months later at a Senate meeting held on Wednesday, the result of increased admissions showed when Syverud said SU had enrolled 100 more students than expected for the 2015-16 academic year.

The higher enrollment is due to a lower rate of admitted students who don’t end up attending SU, Syverud said on Wednesday.

“Normally, there’s a significant group of students who deposit and then don’t come,” he said at the meeting. “Lower melt is a great thing because it means people want to be here, but it does mean we end up with a slightly larger class.”

The head count of total students at SU for the 2015-16 academic year is 21,789, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. The total enrollment for fall of the 2014-15 academic year was 21,492, according to an SU fact sheet.

SU enrollment has been steadily increasing since the 2003 fiscal year. According to a 2013 SU financial report, total enrollment had increased from about 18,600 students in fiscal year 2003 to about 21,000 students in fiscal year 2013. The university planned the 13 percent increase in the span of those 10 years, the report said.

The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics accepted about 1,750 undergraduate students for the 2015-16 school year, said Michele Barrett, director of communications at Falk College, in an email. She added that total enrollment numbers for the college generally remain constant, though undergraduate and graduate enrollment do see some slight fluctuation from year to year.

Rosanna Grassi, associate dean for student affairs at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said the number of newly enrolled students at the school last year was 400 and this year, the number was 412. The reason for the slight increase, Grassi said, was because of the lack of enrolled students choosing over the summer not to attend the school, which Syverud mentioned.

Enrollment for each incoming class in Newhouse has risen from 350 to about 400 in the past couple years, but Grassi said that influx was planned. The new abroad programs in New York City and Los Angeles allow room for more students in upper-class courses.

“It’s going to have a subtle impact on the other students, but we have enough classes to get everyone to graduate,” Grassi said. “The increase makes freshman and sophomore classes tighter. Minors might have to wait for a seat in some classes because majors have priority.”

The College of Law has seen increased enrollment in its masters of law (LL.M) program since its introduction in 2012, said Cheryl Ficarra, associate dean for enrollment at the College of Law. Ficarra added that an increase in student enrollment in the future “wouldn’t have that dramatic of an affect on students.”

An change in student enrollment, whether an increase or not, directly affects the number of assembly representative spots open in the Student Association, said SA President Aysha Seedat.

“The more students that are in each college means the more representation we have in our organization, which I like because that means we have more people in our organization doing more work and getting more involved,” Seedat said.

Seedat said some downsides of higher enrollment could be possible overcrowding in dorms and dining halls, students being locked out of classes and students being locked out of the housing lottery, which underwent changes last year due to the large incoming freshman and sophomore classes.

Kenneth Kavajecz, dean of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said he thinks that the campus is getting better because the university is bringing in more highly-engaged students than in the past.

“I think having engaged students on campus, and more of them, means everyone gets more out of those experiences here,” Kavajecz said. “Diversity, extracurriculars — all of those things get better with more students and more engaged students.”

Correction: In a previous version of this article, a quote attributed to Kerri Howell referencing enrollment trends at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management was misattributed and contained incorrect information. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on October 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm

Contact Katelyn: kmfaubel@syr.edu