Summary: Leaders at Butler County’s Slippery Rock University and Butler County Community College indicate the schools are bucking trends — for now — read more to learn about what they say about the future.

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Butler County’s institutions of higher education are facing a tough test as student enrollment declines throughout the state.

College enrollment in Pennsylvania has declined by 21.2% since 2010 to 633,991 students in 2024, according to Bestcolleges.com, but one Butler County-based college is bucking that trend, and another is reporting minimal decline compared with the trend.

Michael May, Slippery Rock University’s vice president for enrollment management, said while final enrollment figures won’t be finalized until October, preliminary figures show SRU is defying the trend of enrollment decreases.

“This year, we are anticipating an enrollment increase including first-year, transfer and graduate students to be 8,500 to 8,600,” May said. “That’s the fourth consecutive increase since the pandemic.”

May said in 2024 SRU had an undergraduate student population of 8,400.

Josh Novak, Butler County Community College vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, said the fall 2025 enrollment numbers for the community college also aren’t final, but preliminary numbers indicate 1,770 students will be taking classes this year.

Novak said that’s about a 3% percent, or 65 students, drop from last year’s enrollment of 1,877.

“In these odd times, that’s a win for us,” said Novak, adding most of the drop can be attributed to BC3 closing its Linden Pointe campus in Mercer County. “That had a significant enrollment impact.”

The Linden Pointe campus, south of Hermitage, had been run by BC3 for 15 years before its closure this fall. The campus had hundreds of students in the past.

Last year, three universities in the state closed. Penn State University is considering closing seven of its branch campuses across the Commonwealth.

When the number of graduating seniors drop from area high schools, so does college enrollment.

“Not Mars or Seneca Valley, but many high schools are not seeing growth,” Novak said.

Butler Area School District, for instance, graduates less students than it did a decade ago.

Of those graduating students, there may also be less who are now pursuing a college education.

“Certainly, the news nationally has been a decline in college-going students,” he added.

He said the BC3 enrollment number doesn’t include late-start classes and the 400 to 500 high school students in the Mars, Seneca Valley, Butler and Knoch school districts taking college level classes at their schools through partnerships and agreements with BC3. The classes count for high school and college credits.

In addition, he said, 65 Butler High School students come to the community college campus for an hour every day five days a week to take college classes in subjects such as economics and financial literacy.

“We have a pretty robust dual enrollment,” said Novak.

There are also many demographic factors — tuition costs, the labor market — that can affect student enrollment, but BC3 is aware of them.

“I think just from today’s labor market statistics, if you wanted to get a job you can,” Novak said. “Many employers are recruiting from high schools because they need the employees.”

Today’s prospective college students tend to be more cost conscious and want value for their financial and time commitment.

“How long does it take to get a certification and what can they do with the degree they earn. How can they get into the work force quickly,” said Novak.

Peak enrollment for BC3 occurred in 2009 and 2010, Novak said, when jobs were harder to come by, and many were going to the community college to learn new skills to make them more attractive to employers.

“We have strategies in place to address area and local needs that will put us in a good place as we strive to be responsive,” said Novak.

One example, he said, is BC3’s practical nursing program, which has been growing greatly since its introduction. The program can be completed in one calendar year

More students are entering short-term programs rather than opting for a two-year associate degree that leads to more years studying at a four-year school.

Meeting changing student expectations also seems to be true at Slippery Rock University, where May credits the addition of “accelerated programs, bundling undergraduate and graduate degrees together.”

For instance, he noted the physical therapist degree, which ordinarily takes four years of undergraduate and three years of graduate study can be completed in a 3-plus-3 program of three years of undergraduate study and three years of graduate work.

“By the seventh year, you are already graduating. It saves time and money and gets you out into the workplace a year early,” he said.

May also credits the addition of more engineering programs and a nursing pathway for undergraduates with helping to keep its enrollment numbers steady.

SRU for its fall 2025 fall term has added two new engineering programs — electrical and computer engineering and construction management — to its existing mechanical, civil, industrial and petroleum and natural gas engineering degrees.

“I think that we have recently added academic programs that through our vetting process, meet the work force needs of the region,” May said. “It makes SRU more attractive, and for us we are delivering on our promise of offering relevant programs that are in demand for employment.”

May also said SRU’s College of Education is “very strong.”

“It’s our historic identity,” he said.

SRU graduates are going on to get really good jobs right out of college and the word-of-mouth gets around to prospective students, he said.

The community college is also reaching out to nontraditional students.

“In the past few years we have increased the number of academic programs that can be completed fully on line,” Novak said. “Adult students have the option to do these courses in their own time.”

“We are trying to be forward thinking and responsive to the needs of our students and to the needs of the region,” he said.

SRU is also working to retain the students it already has through the use of success coaches, academic advisors and peer academic coaches, students that help other students.

“We have resources that help them navigate the higher education waters. We can help them be as successful as they want to be. We really see this as a partnership when they join the Slippery Rock family,” May said.

He pointed the recent opening of the Campus Success Center in the former student union which houses the Health Center, Financial Aid Office, Center for Career and Academic Progress, Student Counseling Center, Dean of Students Office and the Office of Disability Services as a one-stop shop for student assistance.

SRU also has a “Finish What You Started” online degree completion program that enables people who didn’t complete a degree to have their existing credits transferred and work to complete their requirements online to earn a bachelor’s degree.

As for trade-oriented programs, SRU works closely with Butler County Community College as well as trade associations and unions to make trade-oriented courses of study available.

May said SRU also offers four-year degrees in business management and accounting to people who have completed, for example, a carpentry accreditation so they can run their own business.

“We give them the skill set and tool box to pursue whatever they like,” he said.