UAFS spring enrollment sets new record

story submitted by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

University of Arkansas at Fort Smith officials have released official enrollment figures for the spring 2010 semester, and the university has set another enrollment record.

Dr. Ray Wallace, provost and senior vice chancellor, said the official enrollment of 6,835 students represents a 7% headcount increase over the previous record spring semester enrollment, set in 2009.

"Additionally, the full-time equivalent number of 5,312 is an even more impressive 10% growth over numbers from last spring," said Dr. Wallace.

The official figures will be sent to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education in a few days.

Compared to the spring semester 2009, the university reports a 13-% increase in education majors, a 12% increase in health sciences majors, and an 11% increase in humanities and social sciences majors. Additionally, there was a 9% increase in full-time students, with a 10% increase in male attendees.

"In all age categories," Wallace said, "we see significant enrollment increases, and both our day and evening courses offerings show eight percent and 12% increases respectively."

Wallace concluded that more students are taking more courses at UAFS.

"And that does not hurt the local economy at all," he said.

Penny Pendleton, dean of enrollment management, said the diversity of what UAFS offers is one reason enrollment is up.

"We offer a wide variety of courses and programs to meet the needs of the region," she said, "and the way we do this is also attractive to our varied student body. We offer classes during the day, evenings and on weekends and also have online classes. We want to provide a diverse array of higher education opportunities for our community."