FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Colorado State University officials expect a record number of incoming freshmen this fall to help reverse two years of declining enrollment.
With fall classes starting Monday, CSU officials expected between 4,300 and 4,400 students in the freshman class, topping the record of 4,093 set last year.
Official numbers were not yet available.
Admissions director Mary Ontiveros said overall enrollment has fallen in each of the past two years, partly due to several small incoming classes a few years ago and declining numbers of transfer students.
CSU had 24,670 undergraduate and graduate students in 2006, down from a record 25,382 in 2004. Transfer student enrollment has been falling since 2001, from 1,789 to 1,367 last year.
CSU President Larry Penley last fall announced plans to increase undergraduate enrollment to 25,000 and graduate enrollment to 5,000. Penley said new undergraduate facilities are attracting more students to CSU.
“We have really been quite aggressive in our recruitment approach,” Penley said. “We’ve focused on the quality of the undergraduate experience.”
In Boulder, the University of Colorado expected between 5,500 and 5,600 incoming freshmen this fall. A record 5,617 new freshmen enrolled last fall.
About 80 percent of CSU students are from Colorado, with many nonresident students coming from California, Illinois and Texas. Ontiveros said CSU would focus new recruiting efforts on the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast, while maintaining focus on Illinois, Texas and California.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
