USM's Fall 2023 Features Affordability Innovations and New Leadership
Total Enrollment Steady, Coppin and UMES Expand In-State Tuition Pricing, Ginsberg Named TU President
Baltimore, Md. (Aug. 28, 2023) –The University System of Maryland (USM) kicks off the Fall 2023 semester with steady enrollment, innovations in value and affordability, and leadership transitions at Towson University and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). Fall classes begin at institutions across the USM on Monday, Aug. 28.
“Every year, I look forward to the start of the fall semester. The energy never gets old,” said USM Chancellor Jay A. Perman. “So I’m excited to start visiting our universities and getting to know some of the students who’ve chosen the USM for their education. It’s the best part of the job.”
Projected Fall Enrollment Anticipates Future Growth
Total expected undergraduate and graduate Fall 2023 enrollment is projected at 163,390 across all 12 system universities and three regional academic centers—with undergraduates representing about 77 percent of that total. Though final data won’t be available before late October, enrollment is projected to rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic and increase by roughly 16,000 students during the next 10 years.
Each academic year, the USM welcomes roughly 40,000 new undergraduates, which includes some 14,000 traditional “first-time, full-time” students; 11,000 community college transfers; and some 20,000 working-adult students who transfer to the USM (primarily to University of Maryland Global Campus, or UMGC) with credits from other four-year institutions.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will have a third consecutive year of increased new student enrollment and is on pace to surpass the largest influx of freshmen and transfer students in eight years. Towson University (TU) will welcome 5,289 new students to campus. This includes 3,047 first-year students—the largest first-year class in TU history—exceeding the Fall 2018 class of 2,996. Salisbury University’s first-year class of roughly 1,400 students is its second-largest incoming class ever.
Students of color continue to comprise the majority of both graduate and undergraduate students enrolled across the system. System enrollment continues to become more diverse with an estimated 62.4 percent of undergraduates who identify as non-white, or as non-U.S. citizens. On the graduate student level, 62.1 percent of students identify as non-white, or as non-U.S. citizens.
Such diversity is a key priority of the Board of Regents as outlined in the USM Vision 2030 strategic plan. During the past several years, the system has intensified efforts to ensure that a USM education is accessible to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin. The breakdown between female and male students enrolled across the USM continues a trend of recent years, with women making up an estimated 52 percent of total enrollment.
USM Offers New Source of Need Based Aid, Coppin State and UMES Offer In-State Tuition to Students Without Local HBCUs, New Innovations in Teaching
$150M Quasi-endowment Fund to Provide Need-Based Student Financial Aid:
During the 2023 Session of the General Assembly, legislation was passed and signed into law that permits the USM Board of Regents to establish a quasi-endowment fund (up to $150 million) and use the investment income produced to provide need-based financial aid for in-state Maryland students. The board approved the establishment of the fund, which will provide spendable income up to approximately $6.4 million annually.
In-State Tuition at Coppin State, UMES for Students from States without HBCUs: Approved by the Board of Regents last April, Coppin State University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) will offer in-state tuition rates to out-of-state students who reside in states or territories without HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Students across the country seek out HBCUs for their quality education programs grounded in rich cultural legacy. More than half the states in the U.S. do not have HBCUs, and these residents often are faced with higher tuition costs to attend their dream schools. With this tuition plan, Coppin and UMES will be able to help make HBCU education more affordable for these students.
The new tuition plan will take effect in Fall 2024.
Prospective students living in the following states and U.S. territories are eligible for the in-state tuition incentive: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
As it seeks to make higher education more affordable, the USM is pleased to support this new tuition policy. This policy is fully in line with the inclusive excellence that has long been a priority for the USM BOR and its new Vision 2030 Strategic Plan. The USM is excited to bring the system’s HBCU excellence to students who otherwise might miss out on such a life-changing experience.
Board of Regents Student Excellence Scholarships: This new program will honor exceptional achievement by USM students in four categories: Academics, Scholarship, and Research; Innovation and Creative Activity; Leadership and Advocacy; and Outreach and Engagement. Within each category, the board presented a $2,000 scholarship to one freshman/sophomore recipient, one junior/senior recipient, and one graduate or professional school recipient. The USM honored this inaugural group in late May and will recognize a new group of winners at the end of the academic year.
Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation Advances Work in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation recently welcomed Dr. Kelly Elkins of Towson University as a Senior Fellow, to lead system support of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). This will include working with an inaugural cohort of faculty selected as 2023-24 Elkins SoTL Fellows from across five USM institutions.
SoTL focuses on systematic investigation of student learning, instruction, and teaching innovations. Findings from SoTL research studies can help inform educators as they decide which instructional methods to use with students and as they design courses, helping to improve student performance and contributing to the knowledge base related to effective educational practices.
Mark Ginsberg Named Next President of Towson University, UMCES Presidential Search Underway
The system welcomes Mark Ginsberg as the new president of Towson University. Ginsberg, currently the provost and executive vice president of George Mason University, will begin his tenure as Towson University president on October 30. Ginsberg has held his current position at George Mason, the largest public research university in Virginia and a Carnegie Research One (R1) institution, since September 2020.
Ginsberg joined Mason in 2010 as the dean of the College of Education and Human Development, began serving as Interim Provost and Executive Vice President in April 2020 and was appointed as Mason’s Provost later that year. He has also served as the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Ginsberg will succeed Kim Schatzel, who led the university with distinction as president since 2016 before becoming president of the University of Louisville. TU Provost Melanie Perreault has led the university as interim president since Feb. 1.
At the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), a search and screening committee has been named to help select the institution’s next president. Current UMCES President Peter Goodwin announced earlier this year that he will be departing in September. Longtime UMCES vice president Bill Dennison has been appointed interim president and will serve in that capacity until a permanent replacement is named.
Eighty Percent of System Undergraduates are from Maryland
In-State Enrollment: The system continues its long and proud tradition of serving students from Maryland, with an estimated 80 percent of undergraduates systemwide coming from in-state. Within Maryland, enrollment is expected to resemble the past three fall semesters, when students from central Maryland counties—Montgomery, Howard, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City—represented most undergraduates attending USM institutions. In fall 2022, more than 81,000 students (undergraduate and graduate) came from these jurisdictions.
Next come students from western Maryland—Garrett, Allegany, Washington, and Frederick counties—at 6,540 in fall 2022. From Southern Maryland, the counties of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s totaled 5,494. And, finally, the lower Eastern Shore—Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties—had 2,693 students.
Out of State Enrollment: For those students coming from outside Maryland, the latest total enrollment figures (fall 2022) show the states of New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and California continued to be significant feeders for USM institutions. Some students are attending USM institutions from as far as Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington state.
Fall updates from each USM institution can be found here.
USM Maintains Commitment to Vision 2030 Strategic Plan
The 2023-24 academic year marks the continuation of the USM’s new, student-centered “Vision 2030: From Excellence to Preeminence” Strategic Plan. This new road map will bring a fundamental shift to how the USM identifies and achieves new priorities in teaching, research, and economic development.
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The USM comprises 12 institutions: Bowie State University; Coppin State University; Frostburg State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; the University of Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; the University of Maryland, College Park; the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and the University of Maryland Global Campus. The USM also includes three regional centers—the Universities at Shady Grove, the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown, and the University System of Maryland at Southern Maryland—at which USM universities offer upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses.
USM institutions and programs are among the nation’s best in quality and value according to several national rankings. To learn more about the University System of Maryland, visit www.usmd.edu. To learn about the new USM Strategic Plan, “Vision 2030: From Excellence to Preeminence,” visit https://www.usmd.edu/vision2030/
Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu
