By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Enrollment numbers for spring semester show Bowling Green State University on track to achieve its retention goal next fall.
The university’s 15-day enrollment figures show 91 percent of the freshmen who came to campus last August are still BGSU students, said Cecilia Castellano, vice provost for strategic enrollment planning, at a press briefing Monday.
At that pace the university should attain its goal to have 80 percent retention of those students. “We are right on target to have 80, hopefully a little more,” she said. “As we continue to enroll strong academic freshman class they continue to persist and retain at a stronger rate.” Retention is important because that and number of graduates are the key factors in determining how much state money the university receives.
Overall BGSU enrollment is flat with a decline on the Firelands campus offsetting a slight increase on the Bowling Green campus.
Total enrollment on the BG campus is 16,554, up 0.3 percent from last spring.
Castellano said few first year students enroll in January. Only 62 enrolled this year. However the university did attract about 250 transfer students. About half are from community colleges while the rest are from other for-year institutions, she said.
The university saw a decrease in graduate students. That reflects the nationwide trend of fewer international students coming to the United States to study.
“The national political rhetoric may be part of that,” Castellano said. But it also is the result of students, particularly in India, having difficulty getting visas from their governments.
She said that the university is working with a large group of international graduate students to resolve the problem so they can enroll on fall.
The enrollment in online graduate courses is robust, she said. The university has 78 more graduate students taking online course. Most of these are for professional graduate programs. BGSU has been pushing those programs as a way of boosting enrollment and attracting tuition dollars. Unlike traditional graduate students these students do not need financial support.
The numbers presented Monday show a continuing shift of online offerings to the E Campus. The E Campus offers a carousel of eight-week classes that better fit into the work schedules of non-traditional students.
“Over the last few years that’s been part of our intentional strategy,” said Dave Kielmeyer, chief marketing and communications officer.
“We’re really pleased with that,” Castellano said. The university wants to extend a BGSU education to as many students as possible, and the E Campus is a way to do that.
Castellano said that enrollment in College Credit Plus courses is up 12 percent from last spring. That, however, reflects some high schools that house the college courses in their buildings opting to offer the classes in the spring rather than the fall.
