ABERDEEN, S.D. (HubCityRadio.com) – Enrollment numbers for the state’s public universities were released by the South Dakota Board of Regents on Friday morning. They show a three-percent decline in full-time equivalent students.

Northern State saw it’s full-time number of students drop 5.01 percent (from 1,913.2 to 1,817.3). However, the school did see a fourth straight year of growth in freshmen, and experienced a freshman to sophomore retention rate of 73.05 percent, marking the first time in 20 years that NSU has had retention rates of better than 70 percent four years in a row.

Justin Fraase, Director of Communications and Marketing at NSU, talked about the current numbers.

Northern saw an increase of 21 in freshman biology and chemistry majors. Fraase believes that the new Jewett Regional Science Education Center has impacted that number.

While the NSU campus has undergone a major transformation in the past couple of years with the addition of new residence halls, and new athletic fields, more is still to come with a new football stadium and softball complex on the near horizon.

Fraase said there is a lot of momentum surrounding Northern, but there is still work to be done.

For a complete list of statewide enrollment totals visit www.sdbor.edu