University of Montana Enrollment Bucking National Trend

Declining birth rates may be starting a significant slide in college enrollment. But the University of Montana reports it's seeing no slowdown in spring enrollments.

    📓 This is the fifth consecutive year that Spring 2026 enrollment has grown over the previous year's totals.

This spring, over 11,000 students are enrolled at UM, a 3% increase or around 300 students. That's in line with the numbers from last fall.

Leslie Webb, UM's Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Engagement, says the growth is a "testament to the aggressive steps we have taken to ensure our campus experience is robust and vibrant.”

With the spring census complete, UM’s leaders are hard at work bolstering the number of incoming first-year students who will graduate from high school and enroll at UM next fall.  

Congressional incumbents in no rush to file

Montana's two incumbent members of the House apparently aren't in a rush to officially open their campaign for re-election.

Even though 1st District Representative Ryan Zinke started running campaign ads this last week, he still hasn't filed his paperwork to declare his candidacy for another term.

But the same is also true of 2nd District Representative Troy Downing, who is expected to file for a second term representing the eastern half of the state.

Democrats Russell Cleveland of St. Regis, Matt Rains of Missoula, and Ryan Busse of Kalispell filed for the District 1 race for the first day, on Tuesday. Democrats Brian Miller of Helena and Sam Lux of Great Falls jumped into the District 2 House race.

Incumbent Senator Steve Daines was first in, filing for re-election just after 8 am, with Billings Libertarian Kyle filing his challenge an hour later. Those were the only filings for the Senate contest, but more are expected.