The first time Michigan State University enrolled more than 10,000 students was in the 1946-47 academic year, when soldiers returning from the second World War nearly doubled the size of the student body.
What followed was a period of explosive growth that would continue, not quite unabated, well into the 1970s. The university crossed the 20,000 student mark in the 1954-55 academic year, exceeded 30,000 in the fall of 1963 and 40,000 six years later.
But as the baby boom generation moved into adulthood, the growth stopped. Enrollments dipped in the early 1980s, went back up and dipped again at the start of the 1990s.
But this fall, for the first time, MSU’s enrollment has topped 50,000. To be precise, it’s 50,085.
For the full article, see Matthew Miller, “MSU enrollment tops 50,000 students”, Detroit Free Press, November 14, 2014.