Idaho high school students are currently one of the least likely demographics to pursue a college education, the United States Department of Education reports, creating a low postsecondary enrollment across the state.
The University of Idaho is not only working to augment its own enrollment, but that of that entire state, in an effort to create a better, more engaged society.
UI President Chuck Staben said university enrollment is generally measured in two ways: headcount and fulltime equivalent.
Staben said the first method considers every person who is enrolled in at least something at UI, while the latter measures the number of students who are enrolled in at least 12 undergraduate credits or six graduate credits.
Staben said UI tends to have more fulltime students than part-time and that each of the measurements are usually similar in their returns.
According to a news release, the overall enrollment for fall 2016 was up by 3.6 percent from previous year with 11,780 total students attending UI, either through a dual credit high school program or on campus full/part time.
Staben said the university also experienced a 6.5 percent increase in first-year students enrolled from the state of Idaho as well as a slight rise in out-of-state students.
In total, last year was the largest headcount the university had seen since 2011, which Staben said is partly due to the larger freshman class and additional dual-enrollment programs.
UI will not be able to truly determine fall 2017’s enrollment numbers until mid-October, Staben said. Some forecasts have been made and numbers are expected to increase again, but nothing is definite.
The university has implemented several programs and strategies to increase and retain those numbers even further, like the Vandal Ideas Project, creating more scholarships and retooling recruiting events.
Staben said VIP was created in 2016, initially focusing on interdisciplinary work across university departments. But, this year, it centered on improving the “go-on” rate in Idaho.
Staben said 21 project ideas were submitted from students, faculty and staff for over the $300,000 grant. He, along with UI Executive Vice President and Provost John Wiencek, decided to fund seven of them based on several recommendations from committees.
Dean Kahler, UI vice provost for strategic enrollment management, said another one of the VIP grant recipients was the I Go Program – an initiative his department spearheaded – which will hire recent UI graduates and place them as advisors into key high schools throughout the state with low college going rates.
Staben said some of the other beneficiaries, included the Idaho Drone League and UIdahoX and that each new program will work to retain UI’s current students as well as attract prospective.
UI is hoping to achieve the aforementioned through scholarships as well, Kahler said, by reinstating the Western Undergraduate Exchange for Oregon and Washington residents, and participating in Raise Me, a national micro-scholarship program.
They are also restructuring several recruiting events, like UIdaho Bound and Envision Idaho, to increase opportunities for students to come to campus.
Both, Staben and Kahler, stress the importance of higher education and believe that UI should do all that it can to instill that same belief across the state to reduce the go-on deficit — no matter if those students choose to become Vandals or not.
“Selfishly, we want to grow the university, but even more than that, we want to grow the state,” Kahler said. “We are looking to open doors for people. … There is just so much that a college education can provide — personally and globally.”
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia