When looking at the final enrollment numbers that were released Monday, President Pat Long said there is good news and bad news.
On one hand, the Baldwin City campus has its highest number of first-time freshmen (257) in the history of the university. On the other, the College of Arts and Sciences’ total enrollment is down six students from last year, which indicates a slip in retention.
A report given to the Baker Orange shows that 992 students are enrolled at the Baldwin City campus this fall compared to 998 students in 2008. The retention rate from freshman to sophomore-level students pleased Long because it is up 2.1 percent from last year. However, the freshman to junior retention rate dropped from 65.7 percent to 58.8 percent.
“We need to be at a higher level for our retention,” Long said. “This is an area that we really started focusing on last year … We’ve got to figure out what happened to these students, and where they are now.”
As has become standard, the School of Nursing in Topeka is operating at maximum capacity with 162 students enrolled.
Long said the graduate programs, such as the graduate cohort of the School of Education and the School of Professional and Graduate Studies, is suffering a bit when it come’s to enrollment because of the recessed economy.
“It’s not unexpected,” she said. “We were just hopeful it would be a little higher than it is. Now the reality is that we have a rolling enrollment in those programs, so we can make that up very quickly.”
Chief Operating Officer Susan Lindahl added that many employers are no longer offering tuition reimbursement, which helps account for the decrease in working adults seeking degrees.
As for how these numbers will affect the budget, Long said a financial committee meeting Thursday would produce details regarding the university’s plan for the future. The meeting took place after the Baker Orange’s presstime, but Lindahl said generally, BU would continue its conservative approach.
“Our target will be to reduce our short-term debt,” Lindahl said. “We’re being very careful about what we add … and that when we purchase something, that we’re checking all possible vendors to determine that we’re not going necessarily with the status quo, but with the best possible combination of cost and quality.”
