In Fall 2008, minority students made up 16.7 percent of incoming freshmen, a number which has fallen over four percent in the last three years, but the number of minority students overall at the University has remained high.

While the number of incoming freshmen minority students has decreased, the University has kept minority students with numbers rising to nearly 20 percent of the student body.

According to the Institutional Research Center at the University, in Fall 2008, 19.4 percent of the student body was a minority including 16.6 percent of the incoming freshmen. These minorities include African American, Asian American, American Indian, Hispanic American and international students. The number of incoming minority students has gone down from 20.9 percent in 2006 to 16.6 percent this past fall.

However, Gary Swegan, director of admissions at the University, has a hopeful outlook towards the situation. He references the numbers of minority students at the University’s was at its highest at 13.5 percent in 2004 before jumping in 2005 and 2006 due to a scholarship awarded to students of color at the University.

‘These numbers are directly related,’ he said. ‘When the scholarship went down, so did the enrollment.’

The numbers of minority students at the University overall continue to remain high, increasing from 14.1 percent in 2004 to 19.4 last year.

One of those students, Zelin Xu, an international graduate student at the University, said she likes the different activities which can be provided for minorities, especially for international students.

‘It is especially fun around different American holidays like Thanksgiving, when the international students get together because we don’t celebrate these holidays,’ she said.

One thing Xu said has kept her at the University has been a friendly atmosphere, which might be hard to find in a bigger city.

With these minority students remaining at the University, the scholarship funds haven’t been available for incoming freshmen, but as older students leave in the coming years, Swegan expects enrollment overall to go up.

And it seems he is beginning to be correct.

‘A year ago at this time we had only 50 applications for the following year,’ he said. ‘Right now we have over 200 for Fall 2010.’

Enrollment for this fall semester of incoming freshmen is estimated at 3,150, which is down from previous years; however the number of transfer students is 625, which has risen. This will keep the class sizes the same for the fall, Swegan said. Out of the incoming freshmen, 17 percent are minority students this fall.

In order to help increase enrollment overall for the coming years, the University has more than doubled its effort in recruiting across the state along with programs on campus.

‘Now there is a greater investment for the incoming students of the University,’ Swegan said.

Editor’s note: This article was originally run in the Aug. 5 issue of The BG News.

Enrollment Numbers for Minority Students

INCOMING FRESHMEN: 2008′ 510′ out of 3079 or 16.7% 2007′ 595′ out of 3233 or 18.4% 2006′ 747′ out of 3576 or 20.9% 2005′ 692′ out of 3585 or 19.3% 2004′ 524′ out of 3869 or 13.5% 2003′ 435′ out of 3530 or 12.3% 2002′ 378′ out of 3588 or 10.5% 2001′ 330′ out of 3599 or 9.2% 2000′ 319′ out of 3371 or 9.5% 1999′ 281′ out of 3516 or 8%

MAIN CAMPUS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS 2004 2265′ or 14.1% 2005 2614′ or 16.2% 2006 2912′ or 18.1% 2007 2966′ or 19% 2008 2862′ or 19.4%