DePaul University’s fall enrollment has surpassed 25,000 for the second straight year. The all-time record enrollment ensures that DePaul continues to be the largest Catholic university in the nation and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest.  

This fall, DePaul enrolled 25,145 students, up 73 students from last year’s record total. The largest increase was charted in DePaul’s masters’-level programs, which showed a 2.8 percent increase to 8,017 graduate students.  Most notable were increases in graduate student enrollment in the College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  

“New academic curricula have been key to DePaul’s success in graduate enrollment, and that’s especially important in challenging economic times,” said David H. Kalsbeek, senior vice president for enrollment management and marketing. “For example, CDM  enrollment is up 8 percent, and enrollment in our College of Communication is up by 10 percent.   Market-responsive  programs offered through CDM in such areas as computer game development, interactive media and animation, and Latino media and communications in the College of Communication are examples of the types of new offerings that in addition to many existing programs, keep DePaul current and build enrollment success.”

DePaul’s undergraduate enrollment remained steady at 16,052. The new freshman class was purposely smaller this year than last year, and at 2,241 students, exceeded the budgeted goal by 2 percent.  In addition, 1,596 new transfer students enrolled this fall, continuing to position DePaul among the nation’s top 10 private universities in transfer enrollment. These successful new student enrollments complemented DePaul’s best-ever first-year retention rate of 87 percent from last year’s freshman class.

“DePaul has deliberately tailored many enrollment strategies specifically toward transfer students, which has helped keep our numbers strong,” said Kalsbeek. “They include building systems that streamline the process of transferring credit and enable students to explore online how their community college coursework maps to DePaul’s many bachelor degree programs.   We have also simplified the admission process for transfer students by giving immediate feedback on admission decisions and transferability of credits at events we sponsor on community and junior college campuses.”

The academic profile of new students  improved substantially.  The average high school GPA for new freshmen was at an all-time high of 3.5, and the proportion of high-performing students on the ACT and SAT increased.  In addition, DePaul continued its strong commitment to the city of Chicago, with Chicago Public School graduates accounting for 14 percent of entering freshmen. More than one-third (36 percent) of freshmen are the first in their families to attend college and 40 percent of all freshmen are students of color, with one out of four being African-American or Hispanic-Latino.   

Also of note in DePaul’s enrollment success is this year’s class of entering students in the College of Law, which was ranked among the top 173 law schools in the country in the latest ranking by Princeton Review.  The law school enrolled 1,076 students, with the 308 new full-time and part-time students coming from 100 colleges and universities in 36 states.  The students have a record high undergraduate GPA of 3.5 and a record average LSAT score of 160.

DePaul also realized an increased demand for its online courses, which, according to Kalsbeek, have become one of the university’s fastest-growing components.  “Credit hours in online courses have increased by 13 percent over last year,” said Kalsbeek. “We believe that we offer more online courses than any other private university in Illinois.  Online courses now comprise 5 percent of DePaul’s total credit hours and largely reflect our adult students’ increasing need for flexibility in course scheduling.”

About DePaul

DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest.  The university offers approximately 275 graduate and undergraduate programs of study on two Chicago campuses, four suburban campuses and at several  international locations. Founded in 1898, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds. For more information, visit www.depaul.edu.