Colorado State Reports Slight Increase In Overall Students
Friday, September 26, 1997
FORT COLLINS--Colorado State University today released
enrollment figures that show an increase of 374 students this
fall, or a 1.7 percent rise, but the university attributed this
increase to a change in counting procedures to more accurately
reflect graduate student enrollment.
The total enrollment for the fall semester is 22,344. This
total includes undergraduate students, Professional Veterinary
Medicine students and graduate students. The change in procedures
for graduate students more accurately reflects true student
enrollment, and also is in keeping with the practices of peer
institutions.
Without the continuously enrolled graduate students, the
university would have reported a slight drop in graduate
enrollment--54 students down from last fall. The overall
undergraduate enrollment is precisely the same as it was last
fall, at 18,451 students.
After several years of small enrollment increases,
university officials attribute this year's flat enrollment to
concerns raised by the flood that hit campus July 28.
"Our enrollment figures are down about 100 students from
what we were projecting just a few weeks earlier, so we can only
assume that the flood and the resulting inconvenience in some
services, for example, at our bookstore and library, has had some
impact on our student enrollment this fall," President Albert C.
Yates said. Yates also said that the university bookstore will be
completely renovated by next semester and that access to the
library basement damaged in the flood will be available by the
spring. Starting in October, the university is expected to begin
receiving shipments of 20,000 books a month from the collection
damaged in the flood and sent off for restoration. "The flood had
a tremendous impact on our campus, and while it has been
gratifying to see the hard work and dedication of the campus
community in response to this natural disaster, it is now clear
that the flood had a small effect on final fall enrollment
numbers."
The fall 1997 freshman class is 2,654 students, and makes up
57.6 percent of all new undergraduate students. All told, there
are 79 fewer new freshman in this class compared to last fall's
class of 2,733 incoming freshman.
This drop in new freshman was offset somewhat by an increase
in the number of undergraduate transfer students. This fall,
there were 1,955 new undergraduate transfers to the university--
making up 42.4 percent of the new students at Colorado State.
These transfer student totals represent a 2 percent increase, or
38 additional students, over the new transfer students enrolled
last fall.
The university did see an upswing in continued minority
student enrollment, bringing the minority student population at
the university to 10.5 percent of the entire student body. In
this fall's enrollment, the number of Hispanic, Asian and Native
American students grew, while the number of Black students
remained unchanged. The university's diverse population now
includes: 1,123 Hispanic students (a 1.4 percent increase); 630
Asian students (a 1.6 percent increase); 318 Black students; and
264 Native American students (an 8.2 percent increase.)
This growth in minority student enrollment continues more
than a decade of progress in adding to the diversity of the
student body. This upward trend began 13 years ago, when the
minority student population made up only 5.8 percent of Colorado
State's students. This fall's increase in overall diversity
occurred despite a decrease of 23 non-resident new freshman in
this year's class when compared to last fall's entering freshman.
This increase is attributed to improved retention efforts.
Colorado State also made gains in international student
enrollment. The total number of students from other countries of
origin rose 22.6 percent to 774 students, up from last fall's 628
international students. International graduate students represent
the largest single increase in international student enrollment.
There are 556 international graduate students enrolled this fall,
a 28.4 percent increase over last fall.
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