The number of students enrolled at St. Cloud State University declined this fall as expected.

St. Cloud State’s Office of Strategy, Planning, and Effectiveness says that the university welcomed just under 13,500 students from over 90 countries to campus in the fall semester, over 1,000 less than last year’s headcount. Officials say this falls in the budget contingency plans for the fiscal year 2019.

One reason why the losses didn’t hurt as badly as they could was the fact that retention went up. The fall student retention rate increased over 5 percent, which the highest yearly increase since 1999.

Another positive to address after the 30-day enrollment period ended is credit hours. Back in fall 2014, students were averaging 12.8 credit hours attempted. However, that number rose to 13.3 in fall 2017, where it was maintained this fall.

These numbers aren’t official until being verified by Minnesota State.