U of O: More applications + more students = more competitive
EUGENE, Ore. - It's been abig year for the University of Oregon: the Ducks are number one in football, and student enrollment has set another record.
"This year's record enrollment simply builds on the past few years of record enrollment," said Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Roger Thompson.
He says 23,300 students are enrolled for the fall term, a 4 percent increase over 2009.
Enrollment is up by 1,000 students this year, and Thompson attributes that growth to academic and athletic programs.
"Name a program, and it's highly ranked, and I think that's what's appealing to students and families and people in all these different high schools," he said.
And it's not just Oregon residents applying: more students are coming from all corners of the country and world. Thompson said applications are growing by double digit percentages.
"There's thousands more students applying to be a part of the University of Oregon so, it is going to make admissions more competitive," Thompson said.
The university is also getting more interest from students who wouldn't normally apply.
"The exposure that we're receiving through football and athletics I think raises our profile with a kid in Colorado, let's say," Thompson said.
Thompson said the university has been on what he calls a "modest growth plan" for the past few years. He said the goal is to grow to about 24,500 students over the next few years.
"We broke ground on a new residence hall earlier this fall, we've got a new science building going up,: Thompson said. "We've got lots of new things happening, and that's designed to support the enrollment growth that we're currently seeing."
And he said he doesn't see this growth slowing down any time soon.
"Where else would you want to be? You've got fall Saturdays with the number one team in the country playing, you've got outstanding academic programs across this campus." he said.
Final enrollment numbers won't be released until later this month.
And it's not just the U of O seeing growth, Lane Community College has seen a 5 percent increase in it's enrollment this fall. President Mary Spilde was unavailable this week for this story, and staff at LCC referred interview requests to her.
