LEXINGTON, Ky. — We are about a month away from the start of the fall semester at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Both plan to hold in-person classes starting August 17.

When nearly everything shut down in March, students were left with a big decision on where to attend college in the fall. At the time, many wondered if there would even be college in the fall or what that would look like.

With so many uncertainties, UK pushed back the enrollment deadline to give prospective students more time to decide.

“We tried to be as flexible as possible knowing a decision had to be made,” UK associate provost for enrollment management Christine Harper said.

For some families, Harper said it was more about making sure other things in their life were in order before making such a big commitment. She said, based on feedback, it appears pushing that deadline back was helpful.

While that appears to have helped, it looks like enrollment will be down slightly at UK this fall. It’s important to keep in mind, this is by comparing it to last fall when UK saw the largest incoming freshmen class ever. Before the coronavirus, it was looking like UK was on track to surpass that this year, but the pandemic complicated things.

“Our incoming freshmen class looks to be about the same as it was two years ago,” Harper said.

At UofL, the numbers are also not set in stone yet for fall enrollment. However, if the projections hold, UofL vice provost for strategic enrollment management and student success Jim Begany said the Cardinals could have a larger fall enrollment than last year.

“In terms of overall, we feel that we will be at least where we were last year. Right now, if I were to give you an exact number, we are 133 students over the previous year in terms of total enrollment looking at all the different areas,” Begany said.

While that is welcome news for UofL, it doesn’t mean the university was immune to the effects of the pandemic so many others are seeing. 

“We started out really strong. That helped to weather some of this. We probably will not end up where we thought we were going to be. We were expecting a larger number, but because of that lead and where we started, I think that helped us to get to this point where we are at,” Begany said.

As you could imagine, a lot of parents and students have had a lot of questions about what to expect for the fall. You can find some more information about the plans at UK and UofL on their websites.

As for recruitment, both universities turned to virtual visits when the pandemic hit. UofL just started doing on campus tours again in smaller groups. UK has plans to start small group tours soon.