UAFS, ATU-Ozark report spring enrollment numbers
by February 3, 2014 5:36 pm 235 views
Spring semester enrollment was down 4% at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, and preliminary figures show enrollment up almost 4% at Arkansas Tech University-Ozark campus.
The ATU-Ozark spring enrollment is up almost 4% from 2013, which saw an enrollment of 1,826. Enrollment is up almost 15% compared to 2012 and up around 35% compared to 2011, according to ATU-Ozark figures.
ATU-Ozark Chancellor Bruce Sikes credits part of the campus’ enrollment increase to its continued program expansion.
“Increasing our offerings in Allied Health and Applied Technology, such as Cardiovascular Technology and Human Resources, has assisted the Ozark Campus in realizing enrollment gains,” Sikes said in a statement. “Our degrees lead directly to jobs.”
The UAFS figures show that full-time equivalent enrollment fell 4% to 5,078, with total headcount falling 5.8% compared to the 2013 period.
“The university saw a 27 percent decline in the number of students enrolled in only remedial courses,” Dr. Ray Wallace, provost and senior vice chancellor, said in a statement. “In addition, our ongoing fiscal policies to curtail enrollment by students who have a significant unpaid balance from previous academic terms is also affecting enrollment.”
UAFS Chancellor Paul Beran said he is happy with a 6% increase in upper-level student semester credit hours. Beran said UAFS experienced an overall increase in the student semester credit hours in three colleges – Applied Science and Technology, Business, and Health Sciences.
“This indicates that the retention of students is increasing and that their course loads are higher compared to last spring,” he said. “UAFS students are individually enrolling in more classes.”
Out-of-state enrollments increased by 13%, with enrollments from Oklahoma up 21%, and international student enrollment up 30%.
UAFS officials are working to replace the decreasing numbers of remedial students with students interested in new degree offerings which will roll out for the fall 2014 semester.
“The bottom line is we must broaden our outreach to traditional high school students while also attracting more non-traditional students, especially those who already have college hours, and get them re-enrolled and ultimately graduated,” Beran said.