Projected first-year enrollment is down at Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities amid the coronavirus pandemic and other factors.

However, locally, Slippery Rock University is on track to see enrollment numbers similar to those last fall.

“What is different for us is that we put a lot of effort in recruiting out of state and in eastern Pennsylvania,” said Amanda Yale, chief enrollment management officer for SRU. “I know some other schools are seeing some real declines, but right now, we’re not seeing that.”

According to numbers released Thursday by the state’s higher education system, 17,277 students paid deposits this week compared to 17,583 during this period last year, representing a decline of nearly 2 percent.

As of Friday afternoon, Yale said the northern Butler County university has seen an increase of more than 40 additional out-of-state students enrolling over last fall, and 20 more than last year’s enrollment numbers coming from the eastern half of the state.

While SRU appears to be holding steady, enrollment numbers vary across the state. Bloomsburg University in east central Pennsylvania experienced the deepest decline with 19 percent fewer first-year students enrolling this coming fall over last fall. On the other hand, Cheyney University in southeast Pennsylvania saw a 51 percent increase in first-year students making deposits at the historically black school compared to the previous year.

“A lot of families are waiting to make a decision, and understandably so,” university system spokesman Dave Pidgeon told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “They are facing a lot of uncertainty.”

Officials cited the coronavirus pandemic as one reason for the lower numbers, but they also said there was a continuing decline in high school graduates.

Completed applications statewide were down 6 percent this year, including at SRU, which Yale said has seen less applications, but more students accepting offers of admission.

While Pidgeon could not say how many of the state system’s 96,000 students planned to return, Yale said SRU expects between 80 and 82 percent of last year’s freshman class of nearly 1,600 students to return as sophomores in the fall.

The state system’s chancellor, Daniel Greenstein, has said universities intend to open for in-person classes this fall, but the openings would vary.

SRU trustees announced June 4 that students will return to campus in the fall using a hybrid of in-person and distance learning depending on state guidelines.

“We’re cautiously optimistic about the new enrollment status for the fall term,” Yale said. “We’re currently doing our virtual fall orientation. We’ve developed an incredibly comprehensive orientation program for not being able to bring (students) to school.”