Enrollment on the way up

When USU President Stan Albrecht promised the Board of Trustees to fix the enrollment problem at USU, he set the bar high.

Over the past six years, the number of students attending USU’s main campus has steadily decreased from 17,663 in the fall of 2001 to 16,634 in 2006, according to numbers on the Board of Trustees’ Web site. Albrecht made that promise in January 2006, and he said it would be done within 18 months. That mark passed in July. If things have gone well, USU should now be on the rebound. According to Provost Ray Coward, this year’s freshman class will be one of the biggest in the past 10 years.

“Last year we had a strong freshman year, but as scientists say, one data point doesn’t make a trend,” Coward said. “We’ve made enormous progress. Last year and this year we will have brought in these two large freshman classes, and that will stabilize enrollment. As these classes move through and we continue to bring in large freshman classes, (the enrollment) problem will be solved.”

Though this fall’s numbers will not be tallied until three weeks after the start of school, the feeling in the Admissions Office is one of self-congratulation.

“The forecast is looking good,” said Jenn Putnam, director of admissions. Though she said no official numbers have yet been released, most other schools in the state have either stayed flat or gone down slightly in enrollment numbers, while USU appears to have attracted more new students this year than last.

“We need to continue to grow out of state,” Putnam said. “We grew maybe 50 or 60 students in state, but those are students we stole from other schools, because the overall in-state enrollment hasn’t gone up. So if we can just keep recruiting out of state, we’ll be good.”

In January 2006, the goal was to have 5,000 potential students apply at USU in order to bring in approximately 2,400 new faces last fall. There were 5,209 applications for last fall. The freshman acceptance rate, however, is on the rise. In Fall 2002, 88 percent of applicants were accepted, whereas in Fall 2006, 97 percent were accepted.

“We’re very pleased with the position we are in right now,” Coward said. “We have a great story to tell. We have affordable tuition and high-quality education. Students have been voting with their feet, so to speak.”

-elizabeth.lawyer@aggiemail.usu.edu