UW-O sees big jump in enrollment

"In a time of economic uncertainty, it is a positive sign to see students investing in higher education," UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells said when talking about the preliminary projected numbers for enrollment in the 2009-10 academic year at Oshkosh. "For our enrollment to grow so significantly during the last nine years is a testament to the value of Greater Wisconsin regional universities and UW-Oshkosh's ability to continue to provide a quality, affordable, accessible education."

The projected numbers show and enrollment of more than 13,100 students, which would be an increase of roughly 3 percent, or 400 more students than in 2008-09. Wells says that part of the growth has come from a few years of a high number of freshmen, but the majority of the increase is from non-traditional students and transfer students.

Because of poor economic conditions, many people are deciding at a later age in life to either begin higher learning or go back to finish a degree they had started earlier in life.
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Petra Roter also added that we have a large number of veterans on our campus. Projections show there will be more than 300 veterans on campus this year.

Students are also taking more credits this year. A 4 percent rise in credits is expected, which would bring the average credit load to 16 per semester. Roter says that there are two main reasons for this. The first is that students want to decrease the cost of their education by cutting down theamount of time they are here, and the second is that many students are adding minors and extra majors. Oshkosh also makes it a little easier to take so many credits because of the way interims are set up.

All these new students and extra credits will require extra funding. Wells says we face three problems here: cost, quality and morale. All three of these issues are being covered by the Student Titans Employment Program (STEP), which was put together by University's Planning, Leadership and Needs Council (U-PLAN) and the College Deans.

This takes some of the work load off faculty and staff, gives students experience in their field of study, and allow students to make money for the school and themselves. Wells says this also puts responsibility on faculty, staff and students to let the administration know where the money is helping most, which helps determine where it should go in 2010-11.
"It is a testament to our outstanding deans, department chairs, faculty and staff that we are providing our students with more seats in classrooms despite shrinking resources," Provost Lane Earns said. "The challenge is now to maintain quality and high-impact learning opportunities despite larger class sizes." 

Now the question has become, will enrollment continue to increase as it has been?  Wells is uncertain about this, but believes that it will not increase at the rate it has this year because the number of high school students is down. If Oshkosh's numbers are to keep going up, then a high percentage of high school students will have to decide to go to college at Oshkosh. Part of our appeal, he says, is that we are a medium-size school.

He says we're bigger than most people think, but we present a different experience and different opportunities than schools like UW-Madison or -Milwaukee.

It's a new year with new possibilities for more students, and as Roter said, "We're looking forward to the beginning of a new academic year with a 3 percent increase in students and our forward movement on our growth initiative to better serve the state of Wisconsin and the region."