<p>bc,
You may be right on the enrollment at U Michigan. I don’t know. </p>
<p>I would assume that there is pressure in most states to increase enrollment at the state flagship in line with population growth. According to wikipedia, Michigan’s population has grown from 9.26 million in 1980 to 10.00 million in 2008 (increase of 8% in 28 years). </p>
<p>For amusement, I did a quick comparison with Virgina. wiki says that Virginia’s population grew from 5.35 million in 1980 to 7.77 million in 2008 (increase of 45%). Given this, I would’ve guessed at a larger increase in U Virginia undergrad enrollment during that time than the 25% it actually had. </p>
<p>It would be interesting to see how correlated population growth and flagship enrollment growth really are. Maybe if someone has an old copy of a College Guide book from the 70s or 80s, they can look up and post some of the old enrollment numbers for colleges.</p>