The University’s Office of Admissions has been aiming for student growth for the past couple of years, and the enrollment figures for Spring 2011 reflect the increase administrators have been looking for.
“Nothing here is surprising,” said Albert Colom, vice president of Enrollment Management.
Though the total student head count at both the main campus and Firelands campus decreased by 44 students from Spring 2010, the total undergraduate head count is up 0.2 percent, according to enrollment reports from the Office of Institutional Research. The number of total credit hours being taken this semester is also up 0.5 percent.
The graduate student head count fell by 7.8 percent, and most of this decline was from the College of Education, said Timothy Messer-Kruse, interim vice provost of Academic Programs.
“The fact that those other colleges are steady or slightly up [in enrollment] seems to me that there must be an economic reason [for the decrease],” Messer-Kruse said.
Undergraduate retention from Fall 2010 to Spring 2011 is 90 percent, Colom said. Almost 400 students didn’t enroll from last fall to this semester.
About one third of those who didn’t enroll did not do so because of poor grades.
“You’re always going to have some melt away from academic reasons,” Colom said.
He said the rest of those students who didn’t continue into this spring gave financial reasons for not returning.
While University enrollment has been down for the past couple of years, through increased recruitment efforts, Colom said the University is attracting more students, especially transfer students, which are up 43 percent this semester.
As well as high schools, Colom said Admissions has been working on recruiting students from community colleges, career fairs, military bases and different businesses.
The numbers projected for next fall show that it might be the biggest fall freshmen class in University history.
Applications received for next year are up 22 percent from last year, and admitted students are up 15.6 percent. The number of incoming freshmen who have already paid for their on-campus housing fees is up 113 percent.
“We are on track to have the largest freshman class,” Colom said. “I’m shooting for 4,000.”
ENROLLMENT FIGURES
University Spring 2011 head count
Graduate: 2,644
Undergraduate: 13,663
Total: 16,307
Firelands Spring 2011 head count
Graduate: 0
Undergraduate: 2,405
Total: 2,405
University Spring 2010 head count
Graduate: 2,869
Undergraduate: 13,402
Total: 16,271
Firelands Spring 2010 head count
Graduate: 2
Undergraduate: 2,483
Total: 2,485
Source: Office of Institutional Research
