SUNY Fredonia students walk on campus during a recent morning of classes. The university’s enrollment is down 4.2% this year. OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford.

SUNY Fredonia’s enrollment fell this year.

“We should feel down and we are somewhat,” said Dr. Cedric Howard, vice president for enrollment and student affairs, during a report at the October College Council meeting. “But we are optimistic about what this year’s class is.”

While enrollment is down 4.2%, to 4,463 total students, for the 2019-20 school year, Howard said that comes out of the largest number of applicants in the university’s history.

“We are recruiting students that are qualified to come to Fredonia,” he said. However, he added, “we didn’t have the yield we thought we should have.”

Noting that the last two years brought record class sizes for incoming freshmen, Howard said this year’s class of 1,006 was still large, just not as large as in those years.

He said retention of current students is another problem, noting that rate is also down. “We need to address both the yield and the retention efforts on campus,” he said.

Interim President Dr. Dennis Hefner acknowledged that with students from downstate New York, “distance is a problem.” He said many downstate students are turned off by northern Chautauqua County’s snowy winter weather and its rural demographics and culture.

SUNY Fredonia is increasing its recruitment efforts in the Cleveland, Erie and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas, Howard said, and Hefner noted those places are closer to Fredonia in terms of distance, culture and climate.

“We will do our best to make sure enrollment goes up — sustainably,” Howard concluded.

According to a written report Howard submitted to the College Council, “With the launch of the ‘Good Neighbor Award,’ students from Pennsylvania and Ohio will receive a $6,000 award to reduce their out-of-state cost. This will bring Fredonia’s out-of-state price in line with or less than many public universities in those two states.”