Every semester, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette takes a count of all students on the 14th day of classes, this is known as Census Day. On Sept. 11, 2026, the Census Day for this semester reported a 2.5% decline in enrollment at the University. This is the first time fall enrollment has declined since 2022.

Dr. Andy Benoit, vice president for student success at the University, oversees enrollment management. Speaking with The Vermilion, he was able to provide both numerical and anecdotal information regarding enrollment. 

To be more specific, the total number of students in Fall 2026 was 15,702, which is 398 less than this time last year. This fall’s total included 13,602 undergraduate students and 2,100 graduate students. 

Now, these numbers encompass a variety of students: 3,125 part-time students, 2,136 online students, 914 high school dual-enrollment students and 1,117 non-degree seeking or earning certificates. The remaining student body are full-time, degree-seeking students on campus.

Regarding newcomers, 2,982 first-time freshmen joined UL Lafayette this year. This is the first fall semester since 2022 where the University recorded less than 3,000 first-time freshmen. Benoit commented on how the University anticipated this near-400 student decline in order to have a more “stabilized enrollment.”

“We did drop students for non-payment for the first time in many years,” Benoit said. “We also had a number of students who… did not return academically. That happens every semester.” Students also drop for non-financial reasons, such as taking a gap period, transferring to another institution or disciplinary reasons.

In anticipation of a possible continuous decline in students, there is the question of a consequential decline in tuition money received. Directly following last year’s fiscal deficit, the financial health of the University is front and center. Benoit said, “The budgets on a college campus are very, very complicated with regard to that. So we don’t know yet the full implication of what the decrease will do.”

Between winter and summer intersession semesters, A-term and B-term classes and monthly payment plans that many students put their tuition on, the University collects tuition money constantly, rather than all at once. This is another reason Benoit gave as to why any fiscal effects of enrollment decreasing may not be easy to locate this early in the school year.

More on this year, Benoit noted that some decreases, such as that within the graduate school, were actually expected. There was a large number that graduated this past school year, 864 per the Office of Institutional Research. But, some changes in enrollment were a surprise.

“We had a bit more students withdraw on their own volition this semester than I think we probably would have anticipated.”

Another surprise to the University was that amidst what Benoit referred to as “visa limitations,” although the number of international graduate students went down, the number of international undergraduate students increased from last year’s 104 to 112.

Evaluating every aspect of Census Day evidently reveals increases, decreases and stagnations. But, the next direction the University intends to focus on is forward. Last school year, the University announced intentions to increase total enrollment to 22,500 students by 2030 and 27,500 students by 2035. According to Benoit, this is still the plan, which he referred to as Vision 2035.

Diving deeper into these goals, Benoit described a multitude of ways the University plans to increase its enrollment over the coming years. He said, “About 90% of our students enrolled are from Louisiana itself. And so we want to diversify that and include more areas.”

This includes an “extraordinarily aggressive” effort to recruit incoming freshmen and transfer students not just from Louisiana, but all down the Gulf Coast, as far west as Texas and as far east as Florida.

Another big part of enrollment is not just recruitment, but also retention. Benoit noted that the University’s current percentage of students that complete their bachelor’s degree in four years is around 25-26%. The six-year graduation rate is at 52%. 

In order to meet their enrollment goals, these numbers must increase as well. The University’s goal is to increase the four-year graduation rate to 70% and the six-year rate to 85%.

Regarding this, Benoit said that although these increases seem steep, that they are on par for “our peers that are R1 institutions around the country.” On top of these planned increases, the one-year retention rate at the University is between 73-74%. This means only around three quarters of University students stay beyond their freshman year. Benoit added that this number also needs to increase to between 85-90%.

These intentions have led to the recruitment of “retention teams” within each college and the addition of more advisors at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Among plans to recruit, retain and graduate an increasing number of students, Benoit gave words to any current students who may harbor concerns of uncertainty for the University’s future amidst these tall goals.

“Look at these things as visible evidence that we are doing the things that we need to do to provide opportunity, to provide support and to help students reach their potential… Because what we don’t want is for students to come here, accumulate debt and not have a credential.”