BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Western Washington University is seeing another drop in enrollment as it rolls out a new plan to reverse the trend.

The university announced on Thursday that there are 2,690 first-year students attending Western this fall.

That’s roughly 300 less than last year’s incoming class, marking the third straight fall of declining enrollment following a post-pandemic surge.

There were still promising trends though, as first-year student retention rose to just over 79%, the highest since the 2020 pandemic cohort.

Western also achieved its highest ever FAFSA completion rate.

It comes as the school announced its goal of increasing its first-year class to 3,200 students next fall, which would be the second-largest class it’s seen in over two decades.

To achieve that, Western is offering guaranteed admission for eligible high school graduates and less barriers to transfer for students at community and technical colleges.