Cohort of 872 first-time freshmen and transfer students call MSUB home.
MSU BILLINGS NEWS — Montana State University Billings starts the 2026-27 academic year with its highest retention on record.
Thanks to a unified effort to keep students moving forward in their college plans, MSU Billings is keeping more students in college. Data for fall semester of 2026 show that a record 62.2 percent of new freshmen and transfer students who enrolled at MSU Billings in the fall of 2025 returned to college for fall 2026. The retention achievement is 5.7 percentage points higher than a year ago.
A rich mixture of new and returning students is fueling the good news. First-time freshmen and transfer student enrollment from across Montana is growing.
The university also welcomed a growing class of new students this fall, with 872 first-time freshmen and transfer students, an 8.2 percent increase from fall 2025. That growth builds on the momentum of the previous year, when first-time freshman enrollment alone increased 9.1 percent from fall 2024. Combined with record student retention, continued growth among new students helped push overall fall enrollment to 4,176 students, the university’s highest enrollment since 2019.
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And, as has been for generations, the student makeup of MSU Billings is a representation of the entire state, with an enrollment that is 91 percent Montana residents.
Founded in 1927, MSU Billings’ legacy of access and student support continues to drive the strategy and actions of the entire university.
“I am so excited to see how all our intentional work on retention is paying off,” said MSU Billings Chancellor Stefani Hicswa. “And I’m eager to watch how well the Class of 2030 does. As their new college home, they will be getting the academic rigor they need and the staff support they deserve.”
Consistent efforts on meeting students’ various needs – from tutoring to health services to navigating financial aid processes – have yielded results across the university’s different colleges and student populations.
“MSUB has been laser focused on student success for the last few years,” said Dr. Kimberly Hayworth, vice chancellor for Student Access and Success. “The highest first-year retention rate on record reflects the drive of our students supported by the collective efforts of dedicated staff and faculty.”
Of the fall 2025 cohort of new freshmen and transfer students who continued this fall, retention highlights show:
- 81 percent at the College of Business.
- 78 percent among Yellowjacket student-athletes.
- 76 percent of students in the Montana 10 Scholars Program. The Montana 10 Scholars program serves first-generation and low-income freshmen from Montana.
Dr. Susan Gilbertz, the dean of the College of Business, said there has been a measured, intentional approach to making sure students are aware of their options from one year to the next while also reminding them of important deadlines.
“I call it proactive advising,” Gilbertz said, noting any academic or financial alerts were dealt with early.
One aspect of retaining students is providing opportunities for leadership and involvement.
Quinten Coppedge, a 20-year-old fire science student from Denton, is an example of a student fully taking advantage of those opportunities.
His fire science classes are taught at City College, a seven-mile car ride from the University Campus, and he works this year as a resident assistant on the sixth floor of Petro Hall. He calls it a good fit for his college career, mostly because it felt natural.
“I made some friends with some resident assistants last spring semester, and it was a good way to get some leadership experience,” he said. “I really like the campus. It has the feel of a small town right in the middle of a big city.”
Other students say they continue because MSU Billings simultaneously meets their needs and fulfills their dreams.
JJ Rodgers, an English major who enrolled after graduating from Billings West High School in 2023, said her program of choice fit in with aspirations of studying abroad. Infatuated with East Asian culture and literature, she said she always wanted to experience what learning – and teaching – would be like in Asia.
She learned all about the many options available to her when she took part in the Upward Bound program during her middle school and high school years. When she arrived at MSU Billings, she worked to save money and apply for scholarships and as a college student in the fall of 2025 via the study abroad program, her dreams came true. She went to South Korea. Helped by the Office of International Studies, Rodgers spent a semester at Hallym University, which she says has a small, comfortable feel similar to MSU Billings.
“It beat my expectations by a landslide,” Rodgers said. “The people you meet and those you make contact with will always stick in your soul.”
The sentiment and the student success developed over the past few years are resonating with students like Coppedge and Rodgers. Fall 2026 enrollment is 4,176 students, up from last fall and the highest since 2019. Of those students, 2,596 are from Yellowstone County and another 1,180 are from other Montana counties, meaning 91 percent of MSU Billings students have local, regional or statewide roots.
Other data from fall semester reports show:
- American Indian students account for 10.2 percent of the fall 2026 enrollment, an increase of 16.5 percent from fall 2025 and a 31 percent increase in the past five years.
- The University Campus programs have 2,038 students.
- Programs at the City College Campus on Billings’ West End have 2,138 students.
- There are 379 high school students taking University Connections classes taught by MSU Billings faculty. That number is an 8.3 percent increase from fall 2025.
- Combined with dual enrollment classes in collaboration with K-12 partners, there are 1,116 high school students earning credits at MSU Billings.
For a full view of the MSU Billings census data for fall semester 2026, see the university’s census webpage.
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