Overall enrolment in undergraduate programs at universities in the Atlantic provinces has decreased again with 1,276 fewer full-time students enrolled this fall — a two per cent drop from last year.

Hardest hit is NSCAD University, which has 15.5 per cent fewer full-time students enrolled. The University of King's College is seeing an 8.4 per cent drop and Cape Breton University lost 6.1 per cent.

The Association of Atlantic Universities released preliminary numbers Thursday. This is the third consecutive year where full-time undergraduate enrolment in the region has shrunk.

Part-time enrolment has also fallen by 461 students, a 6.6 per cent drop. It's the most substantial decrease in six years of declining numbers.

The only schools to see any boost in full-time enrolment are Université Sainte-Anne, which welcomed 15 per cent more full-time students, and Dalhousie, which saw a very modest increase.

Elsewhere in the Maritimes, enrolment figures range from little change at Mount Allison University, with a 0.3 per cent decrease, to Université de Moncton, which suffered a 4.4 per cent drop.

Memorial University in Newfoundland lost the most full-time undergraduate students of all Atlantic Canada universities at 209, a 1.7 per cent decline. But it also had the highest increase in part-time students at 6.6 per cent, or 131 students.

Overall, the number of graduate students studying in Atlantic Canada is up 3.8 per cent, an increase of 315 students. A large part of that was an increase at Memorial, which saw 197 more full-time graduate students.