How has MSU’s growing student body impacted class size and faculty hiring?
MSU continues to be remarkably accessible with very high (80%+) acceptance rates. No other public college or university in the state of Michigan and no other Big10 university is both more accessible and more successful at graduating students as is MSU.
The growing size of our incoming classes each fall, and the increasing persistence and graduation rates of our students should be driving MSU to grow quickly. But it’s not, because coupled with these is a significant decrease in our students’ time to degree. Over the last seven years, MSU’s students have shaved more than a full semester off their time to degree. MSU is graduating students faster, so the total number of students on campus has not rapidly increased. This is because of a concerted effort to increase students’ access to the classes they need to graduate along with the implementation of flat-rate tuition, which provides an economic incentive for students to take enough courses to graduate in four years.
The net result is that MSU’s undergraduate student body is only slightly larger than it’s ever been while it’s more accessible than ever, and its students are graduating sooner and at higher rates than ever.
Mark A. Largent, Ph.D.
Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education
Michigan State University