Education Notebook

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities report historic enrollment growth

My regular reader might recall my article last week about college enrollments moving upward, and here's the official numbers from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

For those of you who like numbers, the .pdf will all of the numbers is below.

LINK: Enrollment figures (.pdf)

[PB]

Release:

 More students poured into the 32 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities this fall than ever before, resulting in the largest increase in the number of students since the system began, officials said today in releasing enrollment figures.

  The state colleges and universities system now has 198,792 students or 12,641 more students than last fall when 186,150 students were enrolled. That’s nearly a 7 percent increase. Previously, the largest increase in the fall headcount was 9,023 additional students in 1999. Also, this is the fourth consecutive year that the system’s fall enrollment has set a record high.

  Enrollment increases were particularly strong at the system’s 25 community and technical colleges. Thirteen colleges had increases greater than 10 percent.

  “We know the economy was a major factor driving this enrollment boom,” said Chancellor James H. McCormick. “This unprecedented growth comes at a time when budgets have been cut at the state colleges and universities so faculty and staff are working harder than ever to serve students.  We especially welcome the opportunity to serve displaced workers seeking to retool and upgrade their knowledge and skills.”

  Enrollment was up in nearly all categories. The number of students of color this fall grew by 18.7 percent, from 27,446 to 32,585, while enrollment of white students was up 8.6 percent. In recent years, the colleges and universities have expanded programs to recruit and retain more students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education - students of color, low-income students and students who are the first in their families to attend college.

  Enrollment of high school students in college courses, through the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program, grew by 4.8 percent. Under Minnesota law, high school students can take courses tuition-free at the state’s public colleges and universities.

  The number of students taking online courses, which includes credit and noncredit courses, grew by 21.7 percent to 47,794 this fall. The system offers about 200 programs completely or predominantly online through Minnesota Online (www.minnesotaonline.org), the largest provider of online education in the state.

  Full-year-equivalent enrollment is projected to increase by almost 5.5 percent for the current year. (Full year-equivalent enrollment is calculated by adding the credits taken by all students and dividing by the number of credits considered to be a full-time course load - 30 credits per year for undergraduates and 20 credits for graduate students.)  The colleges and universities project a full-year-equivalent enrollment of 151,805 for the current year, compared with the actual full-year-equivalent enrollment of 143,924 for the 2008-2009 academic year.

  The numbers released today are the official enrollment count of students taking credit-based courses on the 30th day of the fall semester.

  The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system comprises 32 state universities and community and technical colleges serving the higher education needs of Minnesota. The system serves about 250,000 students per year in credit-based courses and an additional 140,000 students in non-credit courses.

Article: Local college enrollments continue upward

Here's an article from today's paper about local college enrollments continuing to grow...

By Elliot Mann / emann[at]postbulletin.com

Blame it on a slumping economy and workers driven to improve their skills, but colleges in southeastern Minnesota are again reporting enrollment increases.

More students have enrolled at Winona State University this fall than ever before in the college’s 151-year history, with 8,606 students attending school this year. That’s up from 8,450 last fall. Other schools are seeing similar trends.

Compared to last year, Rochester Community and Technical College is up 7.5 percent in terms of credits sold this fall. Riverland Community College in Austin is up about 13 percent in credits sold, while Winona State-Rochester has a student head count increase of about 11 percent.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system hasn’t released official 30-day numbers yet. They are expected to do so this week.

Riverland Community College President Terry Leas said the gains are multidimensional. “One is obviously dislocated workers coming for training so they can get jobs,” Leas said. “Also, there are students who ordinarily go from high school to a university, but their parents had college funds that may have tanked with the market, so they are using community college as a short-term option to save money.”

Another group enrolling at community colleges are those already employed, but are looking to better their job skills or training.

Rochester Community and Technical College Chief of Strategic Operations Dave Weber said he is hopeful that the growth can also be attributed to stronger recruiting measures. Now, the college offers customized communication with prospective students.

“We’ve gotten smarter with a lot of our management of student interest, and we’re converting higher numbers,” Weber said.

At Winona State-Rochester, the growth can also be linked to the jump of students at RCTC.  Of the 137 new undergraduate transfer students to WSU-Rochester this fall, 84 percent (115 students) came from RCTC.

Winona State Director of Undergraduate Admissions Carl Stange said that has been by design, as school staff have tried to forge strong relationships with the RCTC campus.

As for Winona State as a whole, the affordability of the school has been attractive in this marketplace, Stange said.