Kent State University’s enrollment is up about 500 students this fall, continuing a positive trend from the previous year. The university has 34,012 students enrolled across its eight campuses for the fall 2024 semester. Its enrollment was also up last fall, although in terms of long-term trends, it’s still down considerably compared to a high of 41,636 students about a decade and a half ago. Enrollment is also down from a 2010 high-water mark for the other three major public universities in Northeast Ohio – the University of Akron, Cleveland State University and Youngstown State University – and for many others across the country as colleges and universities grapple with declining birth rates and the public’s shaken confidence in the value of higher education.