Eastern Welcomes Record-High Freshman Class
Will Trzaski | News Editor
Eastern Connecticut State University welcomed its largest incoming class in school history this fall, with 1,146 first-year students beginning the 2026-27 academic year. The incoming class represents roughly a 50% increase from the previous year, when Eastern enrolled 763 first-year students. The growth comes after several years of declining enrollment, with the university’s total enrollment reaching its lowest level since 2018 last year.
The increase has given Eastern faculty and administrators hope that the university’s enrollment decline may finally be reversing. According to reporting by the CT Examiner, 54% of this year’s incoming students are the first in their families to attend college.
Eastern President Karim Ismaili said the university's decision to focus on enrollment growth was based on recognizing that the school had the capacity to admit more students while continuing to emphasize its mission as a public liberal arts university.
"We are all very happy to know that all of the work across campus has generated such interest in parents and students wanting to come here,” Ismaili told the CT Examiner.
That work included a more active approach to recruiting prospective students. Benjamin Pauley, and English professor and former interim vice president for student success and enrollment, said Eastern could no longer rely on students simply discovering the university on their own.
Over the past two years, admission counselors have expanded recruitment efforts, attending more than 700 events across Connecticut and beyond last year to promote Eastern.
“We’re not just waiting for them to apply,” Pauley told the CT Examiner. “We’re taking active steps to learn about who’s out there and try to make contact with them and help them understand that Eastern could be good for them.”
The university has also spent over a year preparing for the larger incoming class. Ismaili stated expanding wellness and advising resources was an early priority, with other preparations focused on ensuring academic resources could accommodate the influx of students.
One challenge was fitting the larger number of first-year students into introductory courses. Eastern typically caps classes at 40 students, with the average class size around 20. Cheryl Wilson, Eastern’s vice president and provost of academic affairs, said preparing for the incoming class meant ensuring that the university had enough introductory courses available. The larger freshman class required the university to offer additional introductory sections in addition to creating schedules that could better accommodate more students.
The larger freshman class has also contributed to an increase in Eastern’s overall enrollment. The CT Examiner reported that total enrollment this semester is 3,850 students, more than 400 higher than the previous year.
Despite the increase, Ismaili stated he does not expect the larger incoming class to drastically change Eastern’s small-school atmosphere. The university’s current enrollment remains below the 4,673 students it had in 2018, when enrollment was nearly 1,000 students higher than where it sits today. Ismaili said the university has a maximum capacity of 5,500 students.
For Ismaili, the record incoming class represents an opportunity to build on the university’s recent enrollment momentum.
“As I sit here, I want to build upon this,” Ismaili told the CT Examiner. “This is a great moment of validation for everyone that was focused on building our class to know that all of the hard work that they did has brought these students to our campus so we can work with them and engage with them.”
As the semester continues, Eastern’s record freshman class will become part of the university’s effort to combat years of enrollment decline. The 1,146-student class marks a new enrollment milestone for the university and provides Eastern an opportunity to build on the momentum created by this year’s recruitment efforts.
Sources:
Harvey, Charlotte. “Eastern Connecticut State University Welcomes Record Incoming Class After Years of Enrollment Decline.” CT Examiner, 28 Aug. 2026, p. 1/4, www.easternct.edu/news/_documents/eastern-in-the-news/2026/260828-ct-examiner-eastern-welcomes-record-incoming-class-after-years-of-enrollment-decline-ct-examiner.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.
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