In 2009, 7.1 percent more people enrolled in college in the United States than in the previous fall, according to a new study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
The additional enrollment not only adds numbers to the student body, but also to the college and universities’ bank accounts.
Increased enrollment is just one way universities like MU are attempting to balance the budget.
MU Budget Director Tim Rooney explained the tactic.
“Because of state funding becoming smaller than it actually was seven or eight years ago, public universities are beginning to look more like private universities in that they are going to have to rely on something other than state funding,” Rooney said.
The NCES study looked at enrollment over the past five years and compared those numbers.
The fall 2010 semester tallied 32,415 students enrolled at MU. Broken down, enrollment includes 24,901 undergraduates and a record number of freshmen.
The study marked a trend since 2005 of increased enrollment in higher education.
Statistically, MU saw an increase of 4,400 students, including 1,371 freshmen, since 2005. When compared to national institutions, MU was slightly above average.
MU Enrollment Management Vice Provost Ann Korschgen said in a statement MU saw a massive increase in minority enrollment.
“We have seen total enrollment in certain minority student groups increasing by more than 77 percent,” Korschgen said in a statement.
NCES’s website indicates it looks as much into the graduation rates of four-year institutions as it does into enrollment figures.
According to an MU news release, MU retained about 85 percent of its enrolled freshmen in 2009.
It is more than just dollars and cents at MU, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Students Jim Spain said. The additional students provide more than just one financial benefit.
“Certainly as we increase the number of students enrolled, that increases our tuition income,” Spain said. “We had a significant vote of confidence, as we have more students who said, ‘Mizzou is my university of choice.'”