The number game

Enrollment numbers are up for the fall, but what does that mean for students?

There are 705 more of us at the University than there were last fall. Enrollment came in at 34,885, and that’s being promoted as a positive change. But what causes the increase?

Demand, a higher retention rate and recruitment, said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment.

For the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, recruitment helps to continue building programs.

At the same time, however, other majors are seeing fewer classes and larger class sizes. In fact, the English department must soon offer “double sections” of some classes, in which a professor and graduate students will teach classes of about 70. For most English classes, this teaching style doesn’t work.

But is this year’s increase any different than in the past? Compared to enrollment numbers since 1999, the average increase each year is about 350. Some years also offer extremes – such as an increase of 1,029 students in 2001 and a decrease of 473 students in 2004.

We believe the enrollment numbers should be seen for more than what they are on a piece of paper – mere numbers – and be considered as individual students who need resources.

Our main question: What happened to the money gained by increasing enrollment by 2 percent matched with the increase in tuition this fall? Did it help operating funds or burdened professors? We wish it were the latter.

- Carolyn Crist for the editorial board