This fall brought some good news to the University of Toledo. The university enrolled 672 new transfer students, its highest count since 2019, and the number of freshmen rose by 106, the biggest gain in a decade. And while these numbers are worth celebrating, what does the full story say about the direction UToledo is going? The JuicePress dove into the fall 2026 enrollment report to see what more the numbers show.
The University of Toledo enrolled 14,029 students in fall 2026, down 261 students compared to the previous fall semester. Total enrollment for fall 2026 included 10,566 undergraduates and 3,463 graduate students.
Beneath UToledo’s overall decline in enrollment, however, are recorded gains among first-year and new transfer students.
The number of freshman students rose to 3,547 this semester, an increase of 106 students from fall 2025, making it the largest annual gain in the past 10 years.
New transfer student enrollment also increased this fall, rising by 77 students — from 595 in 2025 to 672 in 2026 — or a 12.9% growth. This was the highest new transfer count since 2019, with new transfers making up about 6% of undergraduate enrollment.
Some of this growth may be connected to the closure of Lourdes University in February 2026, in which UToledo signed a formal teach-out agreement to serve as the primary partners for Lourdes students whose academic programs align with UToledo offerings. However, UToledo’s public enrollment data has not specified how many Lourdes students transferred to UToledo.
These gains, however, did not stop the decline in overall enrollment. UToledo counted 10,566 undergraduates on the fall 2026 census day, down 244 students or a decrease of 2.3%, from the fall 2025 census day. It was the ninth straight year of decline in the university’s 10-year enrollment trend, which lists 16,194 undergraduates back in 2017. In the past decade, undergraduate enrollment has fallen by 5,628 students, more than a third fewer undergraduates than it had in 2017.
Declines were also seen in other enrollment subcategories.
Compared to fall 2025, continuing students fell from 6,762 students to 6,285. New adult students fell from 213 to 120. New international undergraduate students fell from 128 to 90. Combined enrollment among new first-time, transfer, adult and international students dipped from 2,426 to 2,389 students.
The largest offset came from high school students taking UToledo classes through College Credit Plus and similar programs. They rose by 274, to 1,558 students and now make up 15% of undergraduates, up from 6% in 2017. Without them, undergraduate enrollment would fall by 5.4%, from 9,526 to 9,008 students compared with last fall’s numbers.
Retaining students is another matter.
Of the first-time, full-time bachelor’s degree students who entered in fall 2025, their one-year persistence rate was 78.4% coming into this fall semester, compared with a persistence rate of 80.4% for the previous cohort. The two-year persistence rate, which counts students who returned for a third fall semester or had graduated, reached 70.8%, above the previous record of 68.2%.
While UToledo experienced some gains and losses this semester, anticipation is high for what the trends will show next year, and what retention will look like for this year’s incoming class.
