UM-Dearborn welcomed nearly 2,000 new students to campus this fall, highlighted by a fifth consecutive year of transfer growth and modest gains in undergraduate headcount.
Overall enrollment stands at 7,741 students, representing a 3% decrease from last year. Despite the drop in total student numbers, undergraduate enrollment remains a bright spot. Undergraduate and full-time equivalent — that's the number of students taking 12 credit hours or more — enrollment both increased by 1%.
There’s record-setting transfer momentum
A key driver of the university's undergraduate strength is its expanding transfer pipeline. UM-Dearborn welcomed 608 new transfer students this fall — an 18% increase over last year — putting the university on track for its fifth consecutive year of transfer growth.
Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Melissa Stone attributes this sustained growth to intentional policy shifts, including new transfer-friendly credit agreements and staff focused on supporting transfer students with their move to UM-Dearborn. Admissions staff have or are establishing office space on several community college campuses, including Henry Ford College, Macomb Community College and Schoolcraft College.
Stone says the university continues growing its 2+2 articulation agreements with community colleges for students to complete two years there and then two years with us to earn a UM-Dearborn bachelor’s degree. There are currently agreements with Henry Ford College, Schoolcraft College, Oakland Community College, Jackson College, Washtenaw Community College and multiple other partners. These efforts are essential to growth as more students take advantage of the state’s Community College Guarantee, which offers free community college admission to qualifying students.
“The university is looking to offer more online completion options, so we are currently exploring an expansion to northern Michigan with our 2+2 programs,” she says. “Our goal is to support transfer students early in their community college experience to ease their transition to UM-Dearborn."
Growing domestic enrollment a priority
The overall decrease in university enrollment numbers was primarily concentrated in graduate programs. Total graduate headcount dropped 17%, driven by a continued decline in international student enrollment. Over a two-year span, new international graduate student enrollment has declined 82%, from 252 new students enrolled in Fall 2024 to 46 in Fall 2026. Factors impacting this decline include continued visa challenges and changes to federal work authorization rules.
Growing domestic student enrollment is a key priority for the university. In addition to expanding transfer agreements, the university will continue its Great Lakes Scholarship, which offers in-state tuition for students from states bordering the Great Lakes, as well as Ontario. The scholarship — which is available to all qualifying undergraduates and online graduate students from the target areas — was piloted last year and saw a significant return on investment, bringing in approximately $350,000 in tuition revenue from students who may not otherwise have chosen UM-Dearborn. “We have started marketing to out-of-state students and we’ve seen that there is interest,” Stone says. “We will continue to look for ways to attract more out-of-state students.”
Stone says additional initiatives include creating more online and flexible degree completion options for non-traditional, adult and working learners, developing new guaranteed and direct admission initiatives for community college and high school students, and building an accelerated undergraduate-to-graduate pipeline. Using strategic funds from UM-Ann Arbor, the university is also expanding marketing efforts.
Students choose UM-Dearborn for value, low debt, opportunities
First-year CASL student Ava Skalski chose UM-Dearborn for its smaller class sizes and honors program. Incoming CEHHS student Sam Shumake picked the university for its sports management major. New COB student Haia Hajmohammed likes the close-to-home location. And CECS first-year student Rayat Chowdhury appreciates the scholarship opportunities, especially the Go Blue Guarantee.
“I want to study robotics and know UM-Dearborn is a really good school,” says Chowdhury, a Detroit resident. “I looked at other colleges, but UM-Dearborn was the best choice. It had the right program and the best scholarship for me.”
Stone says UM-Dearborn’s lower cost and return on investment is a major draw for incoming students. Among the university’s first-year, full-time in-state undergraduates, 59% pay no tuition at all as a result of the Go Blue Guarantee, Michigan Achievement Scholarship and other aid. For those who do pay, the average annual tuition for a student from a middle-income family is less than $6,000 a year.
At the same time, the annual earnings for recent graduates are the third-highest among the state’s public universities. According to the most recent College Scorecard, within four years of earning a bachelor’s degree, the median income for a UM-Dearborn graduate is over $77,000, which is $17,000 per year higher than the national standard and more than double the median income for someone with only a high school diploma.
UM-Dearborn students are also graduating with far less debt than a decade ago — 59% of full-time, in-state undergraduates graduate with no debt and 20% fewer undergraduates are graduating with debt as compared to 10 years ago. The average that UM-Dearborn students borrow has fallen by 37% in that time. (The affordability and debt figures are based on internal data on the 2025-26 UM-Dearborn student population. It is a coincidence that the percentage of students who graduated without debt last year is the same as the number of first-year students who paid no tuition.)
“We are so happy to welcome 2,000 new students to UM-Dearborn this year,” says Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta. “These are students who recognize that UM-Dearborn students pay less and earn more. While they are here, they enjoy a unique experience thanks to our richly diverse campus, a top-rated education and the supportive community for which we are known. All of these factors make a UM-Dearborn degree one of the smartest investments a young person can make in themselves and their future.”
