Eastern Connecticut State University welcomed 1,444 new students to campus this fall 2026 semester. The new Warriors are among the largest incoming classes in the University’s 137-year history, with 1,180 first-time students and 264 transfer students enrolled in full-time undergraduate and graduate-level programs.
Among them is Alexander Beers of Holliston, a full-time first-year student majoring in Biochemistry.
The new students join an overall student body of 3,850 full-time matriculated students and a residential campus that is 100% occupied. The cohort represents 145 of Connecticut’s 169 towns and comes from 20 U.S. states – the farthest student coming from Turlock, CA, 3,044 miles from Eastern’s Willimantic campus.
“We are tremendously excited to welcome our newest students this fall,” said Eastern President Karim Ismaili. “They will experience what makes Eastern so distinctive: the rigor and breadth of a public liberal arts education within a vibrant, primarily residential campus community located in the vibrant Town of Windham. Their arrival brings tremendous energy to Eastern, and I cannot wait to see how they learn, grow, and contribute to our community.”
The new students are a scholarly bunch with an average GPA of 3.3, and top declared majors being health sciences, business administration, psychology, nursing, and criminology. Fifty-four percent are the first in their families to attend college, 172 are student-athletes, and 25 are enrolled in the academically competitive University Honors Program.
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Eastern Connecticut State University is the state of Connecticut’s public liberal arts university, serving upwards of 4,000 students annually on its Willimantic campus. A residential campus offering 41 majors and 68 minors, Eastern offers students a strong liberal arts foundation grounded in a variety of applied learning opportunities. Ranked among the top 25 public institutions in the North by U.S. News & World Report in its 2025-26 Best Colleges ratings, Eastern has also been awarded ‘Green Campus’ status by the Princeton Review 15 years in a row. For more information, visit www.easternct.edu.
