Enrollment On the Rise at OU

by Callista Tomallo
FOR THE POST

Some Ohio University students are making their second move of Fall Quarter because of this year's larger freshman class.

First-year enrollment has increased by 211 students, from 3,449 to 3,660 students, according to Ohio University's Office of Institutional Research.

The yield - the percent of students who are accepted to OU and enroll - rose 2 percent from last year, said Kip Howard, assistant vice president for enrollment services.

"This shows the popularity of the school," he said.

But this year's enrollment increase also created a challenge for OU. The school converted custodians' break rooms and storage areas into permanent rooms for 72 students, said Christine Sheets, OU director of business and residence services. The university also opened up Johnson Hall, which it planned to keep empty for renovations, to make space for 100 first-year students and staff.

"We had no intention of opening up Johnson Hall this year," said Randy Shelton, OU director of housing and food services.

The university placed 100 first-year students and Residence Life staff in Johnson, Sheets said. But the residents must be moved to other residence halls by the end of Fall Quarter.

More than 70 of these residents already have selected their permanent rooms, she said. On Sept. 18, after in-hall room changes, Johnson residents were permitted to select from about 85 room openings. Some students already moved to their new rooms.

Others chose to wait for other openings, hoping to live with their current roommate, Sheets said. The remaining students will have until the end of Fall Quarter to select a room.

Although Howard said he is pleased with this year's large crop of first-year students, he also said OU officials must work to increase diversity on campus.

This year's incoming class includes 125 African Americans - 12 more than last year's class - and 52 Hispanics - 20 more than last year.

"I think this was a good start of the university-wide effort to improve the cultural diversity on campus, but there is still more to be done," Howard said.

OU will continue with efforts to increase diversity on campus, said Christine Taylor, assistant vice president for administration.

"Although there is no goal set yet, we would like to increase the numbers from this year to next year," she said.

The academic backgrounds of this year's class are similar to last year.

The average ACT score rose from 23.6 last year to 23.7 this year; the average SAT score increased from 1097 to 1106. Yet the percent of first-year students who graduated in the top ten percent of their high school class decreased one percent to 17 percent.

About 10 percent of this year's first-year students are from outside Ohio, a decrease of one percent from last year. And some 57 percent of this year's class are female, compared with 58 percent last year.