Ten days into the semester the University of Idaho reported 11,707 enrolled students, just three less than last year’s total.
Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management Steve Neiheisel said this number is moving in the right direction to meet UI President M. Duane Nellis’ goal of 16,000 students by 2020.
Neiheisel said like-semester numbers (spring to spring) are compared in the interest of accuracy.
“I’ve been doing this for about 30 years at a handful of different schools, and there’s only been one or two times where a spring semester was bigger than a fall (semester),” he said. “They’re two very different semesters in terms of student behavior, so we really don’t do those comparisons.”
Neiheisel said a variety of dynamics make the two semesters incomparable.
“We get very few new freshmen in the spring,” Neiheisel said. “And graduating classes are smaller in December than they are in May.”
A boost in spring enrollment numbers might stem from improved retention efforts or community college transfers, Neiheisel said.
“Very few schools actually concentrate on growing in the spring,” he said. “It’s just not part of a recruitment cycle … not usually anyway.”
Neiheisel said a 90 percent retention rate of freshmen from fall semester and a growth in diverse and international students — areas of concentration for recruitment and retention efforts — are two positives for the university. Approximately 13 percent (1,506) of UI students have an ethnic or racially diverse background. Of these, 786 are Hispanic or Latino, 162 are Asian, 283 are mixed race, 128 are black, 116 are American Indian or Alaska Native and 31 are Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
He said graduate enrollment for new students is also up, but there’s a decrease of 20 in the overall number of continuing graduate students.
There was also a slight decline at each of the university’s regional sites — Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls — totaling approximately 100 students, Neiheisel said.
He said spring enrollment numbers tend to echo those of fall semester, and that cutting Western Undergraduate Exchange funding affected fall enrollment, which snowballed into spring totals.
“The alternative program that we implemented — the Discover Program — is actually, from a dollar standpoint, comparable to what the WUE was for students who have high academics and high need,” Neiheisel said.
He said a downside to the program is that it’s not as widely available as the WUE was.
Overall, the university plans to grow in the years to come, Neiheisel said.
“For example, we’ve got a campus-wide coordinating recruiting group that’s doing a lot more college-based follow-up, so we’re getting more support and engagement from the college recruiters,” he said. “We’ve got a central staff here, but students want to hear from the faculty.”
He said alumni and currently enrolled students are also getting involved in following up with recently admitted students.
“We’ve got better involvement for continuing students, for alumni, for faculty and staff from the colleges,” Neiheisel said. “It’s not just an admissions or enrollment effort, it really is an institutional effort . . . this year, we put the financial house in order, and we’re reasonably well positioned to grow next fall and then continue to grow.”