Student enrollment continues to surge
It’s been almost two decades since the College of Eastern Utah’s enrollment grew significantly. With the college receiving the largest percentage of headcount growth, 21 percent; and budget-related headcount growth, 14 percent; administrators are breathing a sigh of relief and pride as the Board of Regents released their fall semester third-week enrollment findings.
USU-CEU’s headcount was up 461 students (21 percent) and its budget-related headcount was up 297 students (14 percent).
It’s been almost two decades since the College of Eastern Utah’s enrollment grew significantly. With the college receiving the largest percentage of headcount growth, 21 percent; and budget-related headcount growth, 14 percent; administrators are breathing a sigh of relief and pride as the Board of Regents released their fall semester third-week enrollment findings.
USU-CEU’s headcount was up 461 students (21 percent) and its budget-related headcount was up 297 students (14 percent).
Dixie State College led the Utah System of Higher Education’s budget related full-time equivalent enrollment with 698 new students (12.9 percent) followed by USU-CEU at 169 news students (11 percent), Utah Valley University at 1,527 (8.7 percent), Snow College at 214 students (7 percent), University of Utah and Utah State University added 1,046 and 1,482 students respectively (6 percent), Weber State University 739 (5.7 percent),Salt Lake Community College 413 (2.5 percent) and Southern Utah University 100 (1.6 percent).
Overall, the USHE enrollment for the fall 2010 semester increased by 6,389 full-time equivalent students–an increase of 6.2 percent. This is the third straight year enrollment has seen strong growth, with each institution seeing growth in full-time equivalent students.
“It is encouraging to see that students continue to vote with their feet and realize that higher education is an important investment in their future, and that despite recent budget cuts, our institutions have found ways to accommodate this many new students this fall,” said William Sederburg, commissioner of higher education.
“I am particularly pleased to see large percentage increases among Hispanic, African American and female students since we have had a large gap in the number of students served from these groups,” he said. (In headcount, Hispanic or Latino grew by 15.5 percent, Black or African American grew by 5.7 percent, and females by 5.4 percent compared to 4.4 percent for males.)
In 2010, the governor and legislature prevented additional large cuts to higher education—at one time estimated to be as large as 22 percent from 2008 levels—and kept it at 12 percent—making it possible for institutions to accommodate this year’s growth. “To continue to accommodate student demand,” Sederburg added, “the regents are requesting a portion of the last year’s enrollment growth receive additional state funding.” The regents’ budget request calls for $11.5 million in state funding to assist with the cost of enrollment growth.
Headcount includes all students enrolled at an institution, while FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) approximates the number of students enrolled full-time (15-semester hours for undergraduate students and 10-semester hours for graduate students) each semester. Additionally, the system serves several thousand students in non-traditional programs which are not budget-related and do not receive any taxpayer support. Total headcount and budget-related FTE are included on the following table. (Budget-related are enrollments eligible for state funding.)
The Utah System of Higher Education includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University (including USU-CEU), Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College.
