MOSCOW — Overall enrollment at the University of Idaho for the fall 2020 semester dropped about 9.5 percent with 10,791 students enrolled at the university.

UI officials said in a press release that much of the decrease comes from a decline in dual-credit students – high school students who are enrolled for credit – of 584, and non-degree students. This was unexpected and most likely due to COVID-19, they said in the release.

A decrease as a result of the uncertainty of the pandemic was expected. Full-time enrollment without dual-credit and non-degree students is down 3%, a number that, while not meeting the pre-pandemic goals of the university, is reasonable in the circumstances. U of I has gone to extreme efforts this fall to hold in-person classes and provide the unique student experience for which the university is known.

“We understand the concern of some students,” President Scott Green said. “But we hope our success this fall will increase confidence in students across the state. We are actively recruiting for spring and for fall 2021 and are confident students can find their place as a Vandal.”

First-time undergraduate student enrollment is 1,429, down 56 from 2019. Conversely, students participating in the Western Undergraduate Exchange – students from a western state who, as part of the WUE consortium, pay less than out-of-state tuition – are up 21%, underscoring that U of I is a great value to students from neighboring states. This was also recognized by U.S. News and World Report, which named U of I in the Top 50 “Best Value” schools in the country and as the highest-ranked public institution in the West in that category.

Undergraduate students from outside the consortium, or non-resident students, are down 27% to 441.

New graduate student enrollment is 573, up 4.2% in a continued trend from 2019 when graduate student enrollment increased 2.6%. The university has in recent years invested in more competitive packages for graduate teaching assistants and plans to invest further in the coming year.

The pandemic and international relations have had significant impacts on international student enrollment. This group is down 29% from 652 in 2019 to 464 in 2020. While many international students remained in Moscow over the summer, most new students were not able to attend this fall.

The College of Law saw a significant increase after the university accepted transfer students from the now-defunct Concordia Law School in Boise. U of I took in 110 students in the largest-ever transfer for a Western law school.

Native American, Native Hawaiian and students of more than one race are all up. Native American students are up 8%, or 8 students; Native Hawaiian students are up 27%, or 10 students; and student of more than one race are up 14%, or 50 students. The university has received two separate grants in recent weeks, each for $1 million, to assist Native American students in achieving a college degree.

A year ago, the university implemented a number of strategies to improve retention. These efforts resulted in retention holding steady at 77%. It is also worth noting that the Spring 2020 graduating class was the largest in the past six years – requiring U of I to bring in even more first-time students to fill the gap created by successful completion of degrees.