UC remains an enrollment growth outlier
University President Neville Pinto speaks with the Cincinnati Business Courier
UC has continued to break enrollment records annually, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported in its Regional Education Guide. This fall the university welcomed 53,235 students, a 4.5% increase from the previous year. Online learners increased by 9.6%, enrollment at UC Blue Ash increased by 6.7% and UC Clermont's enrollment was up 15.8%.
UC President Neville G. Pinto
Nationally, college enrollment has decreased at a rate of about 1.5% each year since 2011. Ohio’s higher education institutions aren’t exempt from the national trends. In the last 10 years, total enrollment has decreased 11.4%, according to the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
The university system of Ohio enrolled a total of 509,714 students in fall 2014. This fall, that number dropped to 451,477 students.
UC President Neville Pinto says making a college education more accessible to the region and beyond is an important part of the university’s mission.
“Where are we going to be as a country if we don’t continue the growth of our talent pool,” Pinto told the Cincinnati Business Courier. “Is it sufficient to just have 39% of our population going to college? Or do we have to aspire for a higher number?
“We’ve got to start to reach out to populations that otherwise would not go to college … and build the structures and the programs that create pathways for them to come here. We cannot have this elitist model … to have a strong democracy, everyone has to have equal opportunity.”
Read the full story in the Cincinnati Business Courier.
If subscription fees are required, email cedric.ricks@uc.edu for a PDF of the story.
Featured top image of UC President Neville Pinto speaking during the grand re-opening of Siddall Hall. Photo by Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
From hobbyist photographer to professional educator
October 9, 2026
DAAP alum and photographer HATSUE studied communication design after a pivot in high school from a track toward veterinary school. Today, they teach photography at 1001 Colors white working as an artist and curator in Cincinnati.
UC researcher to launch national study with $2.5 million NIH grant
October 9, 2026
A University of Cincinnati researcher has received a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to conduct research during the next five years. Natalie Kreitzer, MD, a University of Cincinnati College of Medicine physician-researcher, received an R01 independent research grant from the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The funding will support a test program for caregivers of patients with traumatic brain injury, as reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Simple ways to find a deeper sense of happiness and well being
October 8, 2026
UC assistant professor Suzie White, featured in an AARP story on practical ways to live a happier, healthier life, shared research-backed strategies for increasing well-being through gratitude and service to others. White teaches Happiness in Action, a course that helps students apply the science of happiness in everyday life.