Spring Semester Shows Continued Enrollment Growth at WSU

PULLMAN, Wash. — The number of students attending classes on the campuses of Washington State University is up by 4.1 percent at the beginning of spring semester 2005 over comparable figures from last spring. Total spring enrollment is 21,894.

The Pullman, Vancouver, Tri-Cities and Spokane campuses all report increases in headcount enrollment and numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) students – a measure of credit hours taken — according to the official 10^th day enrollment statistics released by the university today (Jan. 31).

“On the Pullman campus, the increased numbers reflect the large class we admitted in the fall and the increased rate of retention of our students,” said Vicki McCracken, associate vice president and associate vice provost for enrollment services. “We also had strong demand from new students seeking admission for spring, but our space was limited for those students.”

The Pullman campus reports 17,354 headcount and 17,331 FTEs. Those figures represent increases of 2.4 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, over spring 2004.

The largest rise among the WSU campuses was recorded at WSU Spokane, where spring enrollment is 1,448, up by 299 students or 26 percent, over comparable figures from last spring. The number of FTEs at Spokane is 1,177, up 13.4 percent from spring 2004.

Those numbers reflect strong growth in enrollment in the nursing programs at the Intercollegiate College of Nursing, which is now counted in the WSU Spokane figures, as well as increases in a broad range of programs offered on the Riverpoint campus.

The Vancouver campus reports headcount enrollment of 1,895 and FTE enrollment of 1,337, up by 3.3 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively. At WSU Tri-Cities, spring headcount enrollment is 1,197 and FTE enrollment 683, increases of 8.4 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, from last spring.

All of the campuses also report small increases in the percentages of students of color.  The Pullman campus shows a minority enrollment of 13.7 percent, compared with 13.2 percent last spring. Figures for the other three campuses are Spokane, 11.7 percent minority (11.0 last spring); Tri-Cities, 10 percent minority (8.6 percent last spring) and Vancouver, 6.5 percent minority (5.5 percent last spring).

Women are in the majority on all of WSU’s campuses, although the margin is small on the Pullman campus, which reports a female enrollment of 50.2 percent. Female enrollment at Spokane is 67.8 percent, at the Tri-Cities 55.9 percent and at Vancouver 62.2 percent.