Fall enrollment is on a steady incline as Baker continues to gain and keep new students.

Currently, Baker has 228 new freshmen and 39 transfer students enrolled for the fall semester on the Baldwin City campus.

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Brian Posler said that while Baker does not have as many new freshmen as last year’s class at 234, overall enrollment is increasing largely because Baker’s retention rate is improving.

“Those retention numbers are doing pretty well, which means we are successfully finding students who are a good fit to stay and be successful at Baker,” Posler said. “The full-time enrollment will be higher this fall than last fall by about 20 students or so. And so that’s good news for Baker.”

Kevin Kropf, the senior director of admissions, said the incoming freshman class is very diverse, including the addition of 11 international students enrolled this fall, which twice as many as last year. These students are from all around the world, from Canada to Australia.

“We’re excited that almost a quarter of the [freshman] class identifies as African American, Asian American, and Native American or Hispanic or Latino,” Kropf said. “We think having a diverse class is an important thing.”

According to the 2013-204 Baker University Fact Book, BU had a spike in enrollment in 2008 and 2009, with almost one thousand students enrolled at the Baldwin City campus. By 2011, that number had decreased by nearly 60 students. But enrollment has increased each year since then.

The total number of students has been increasing and Posler said it is evident in the recent residential changes on campus.

“We have men in Irwin this year, because we needed overflow from Gessner,” Posler said. “So it’s not surprising the NLC is full, [and] it’s not surprising the apartments are full, but it is nice to see Gessner essentially full – the fewer empty beds and the more full the campus is, in ways of housing, also really helps Baker.”

Kropf and the admissions office believe it is a whole campus effort to enroll a student.

“It’s faculty, it’s coaches, it’s the building [and] grounds people, it’s student life – it’s the entire experience,” Kropf said. “When we get students to visit, we want them to engage as many aspects of the campus as possible, and so we know we can’t do it alone.”