Out-of-staters, retention rates reasons for increase

Oregon State University enrollment has climbed to record heights, with 19,753 students registered for fall term.

“Overall, we’re very pleased with it. It’s very reasonable growth,” said Todd Simmons, assistant vice president of university advancement for OSU.

Out-of-state students — especially those from California and Washington — helped fuel this year’s 2 percent enrollment increase, according to data released Thursday by the Oregon University System.

Of OSU’s newly admitted undergraduates, there was a 15 percent increase in nonresidents, which climbed to 830. The number of newly enrolled students from Oregon actually decreased 1 percent to 3,406.

“That says a lot of good things about OSU and the students who would take that step to come here,” Simmons said.

“OSU has gotten a great deal of national press. A number of our research programs have been in national and in some cases global news,” said Kate Peterson, OSU assistant provost for enrollment management. “Our tsunami research is something that comes to mind. Having back-to-back championships in the College World Series didn’t hurt.”

More than 80 percent of OSU students are from Oregon, however, and that has stayed steady, Peterson said.

Bob Kieran, director of institutional research for the Oregon University System, said OSU also kept more students in the fold this year.

“Retention was strong for OSU, and that’s a good thing,” he said.

The university had 4,236 new undergraduate students for fall term, an increase of 78 over 2006. While incoming freshmen increased 4 percent to 3,141, transfers actually declined nearly 5 percent to 1,095.

The decrease in transfer students may be a reporting issue.

“We have more and more students coming to us in the degree partnership programs” at community colleges, and those aren’t considered transfers anymore, Peterson said.

Overall, OSU undergraduate students increased by 397, while there were six fewer graduate students.

The Oregon University System also reached a record high enrollment for fall term 2007, increasing 1.5 percent to 82,249 students.

“We are optimistic that these enrollment increases signal a turnaround in college participation rates in Oregon,” said George Pernsteiner, Oregon University System chancellor. “In recent years, in parallel with Oregon’s economic downturn, enrollment flattened at our universities when state support decreased.”

The overall state enrollment increase was the largest since 2003, despite lower enrollment at the University of Oregon and Southern Oregon University.

Over 10 years, total enrollment for the state university system has increased 28 percent, from just more than 64,000 students.

In the same time period, OSU enrollment increased 36 percent from 14,507, Kieran said. However, the Corvallis school had 17,000 students in 1980, he added.

The Oregon University System saw a 16 percent jump this year in non-Oregonians among newly admitted undergrads, and only a 0.2 percent increase in residents.

Oregon University system enrollment

• Oregon State University — 19,753, up 2 percent

• OSU Cascades Campus — 497, up 0.4 percent

• Eastern Oregon University — 3,422, up 0.2 percent

• Oregon Institute of Technology — 3,318, up 5.1 percent

• Portland State University — 24,999, up 2.9 percent

• Southern Oregon University — 4,836, down 3.3 percent

• University of Oregon — 20,376, down 0.1 percent

• Western Oregon University — 5,037, up 3 percent

• University system total — 82,249, up 1.5 percent

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.