Newly appointed campus director Alistair McCosh said despite the drop, the university expected second round and direct entry offers would boost the final enrollment figures.

Deakin made 142 offers for the Warrnambool campus, including 43 early round offers made in November 2016.

In October last year Deakin committed to staying in the region, days after university applications closed.

Mr McCosh said this uncertainty may have had an impact on application numbers.

“We still have a month to go (before direct entry closes),” Mr McCosh said.

“We are really going to push for those final numbers to come in.

“If you look at our overall figures, we are down 30 per cent.

“Considering the uncertainty (around the campus staying in the region), we knew we were going to take a dip.

“But we really need to wait to get our final numbers in. We are still confident we will get a good cohort.”

The Warrnambool campus’ most popular courses included nursing, nursing-midwifery, marine biology, commerce and health sciences. 

Primary teaching offers were down at Warrnambool, and this was reflected across the state, Mr McCosh said.

“The enrollment numbers of teaching have been up for some period of time,” he said.

“I think what is happening now there is lots of graduates that are coming out and looking for work and particularly in those metro locations it is very competitive.

“Not only at Warrnambool; at our other Deakin locations the numbers for teaching are down.” 

As part of its renewed commitment to the region, Deakin has removed parking fees for staff, students and visitors in 2017.

Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre figures show 54,045 students received main round offers for undergraduate courses, down 5.5 per cent from last year.

This means it is more difficult to get into a course because there are fewer places, hiking up ATAR requirements.