WSU campuses report spring enrollment

PULLMAN  – Washington State University reported a university-wide enrollment of 21,694 students for spring 2007, down slightly from last year’s record spring enrollment totals, according to figures released by the university Jan. 26.

Spring 2006 had the highest university-wide enrollment for a spring semester in WSU history, 21,903 students. The spring 2007 figure is 1.0 percent less.

Enrollment is up significantly in both head count and full-time equivalent students at WSU Vancouver, which welcomed its first freshman class this fall. Full-time equivalent figures are a measure of total credit hours taken by students. Full-time equivalent student figures are also up slightly from last spring at both the Spokane and Tri-Cities campuses, while head-count numbers are down. Head-count and full-time equivalent enrollment figures are both lower for the Pullman campus.

When measured by full-time equivalent students, enrollment university-wide is 0.7 percent less than last spring (20,523 as compared to 20,662).

James Roche, associate vice provost for enrollment services, said that the spring enrollment figures reflect fall enrollment patterns, when undergraduate applications from Washington students were down statewide, contributing to a smaller-than-expected freshman class at WSU and several other institutions. An additional contributing factor in the spring enrollment figure is that WSU awarded more degrees at the conclusion of fall semester 2006 than in any previous fall semester.

In Pullman and Spokane, which are considered a single campus for state enrollment reporting purposes, head-count enrollment is 18,359 this spring, compared to 18,820 last spring. Pullman enrollment went from 17,335 to 16,929 while Spokane moved from 1,485 to 1,430. In full-time equivalent students, the Spokane campus showed a small increase – from 1,272 to 1,273 – while Pullman fell from 17,331 to 16,887.

WSU Vancouver showed a 16.3 percent increase in headcount enrollment, from 1,977 in spring 2006 to 2,300 in spring 2007. The full-time equivalent student figures for Vancouver were up even more sharply, from 1,369 in spring 2006 to 1,667 in spring 2007, or 21.7 percent.

WSU Tri-Cities reported a drop in headcount enrollment from 1,106 in spring 2006 to 1,035 in spring 2007, but its total of full-time equivalent students rose from 690 in spring 2006 to 696 this semester.

The percentage of students of color is up at the Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver campuses and steady at the Pullman campus. Spokane reports 13.6 percent students of color, compared to 12.7 percent last spring. Students of color represent 10.2 percent of the Tri-Cities enrollment, compared to 8.9 percent last spring. In Vancouver, 9.9 percent of the student body is students of color compared to 8.1 percent last spring. The Pullman figure is 14.3 percent this semester, the same as last spring.

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