Early Wichita State enrollment numbers down

Early reports from Wichita State show enrollment and credit hours taken by students are down from last fall.

The reports, which use numbers from the 20th day of classes as a census date each year, say the number of students enrolled decreased nearly 500 from the same time last year to 14,495 – about 3.3 percent.

The preliminary reports were filed early Monday morning, the 20th day of class, and do not include any students who may have enrolled later in the day.

The numbers likely aren’t a surprise for WSU administrators.

Lou Heldman, WSU spokesman, said university officials, including President John Bardo, are declining to talk about the numbers until they are officially submitted to the Kansas Board of Regents next week.

But Bardo told faculty and staff last month that enrollment is a “formidable” issue and the university has to increase enrollment.

“This year we’re going to struggle with it. That’s OK,” he said at faculty convocation in August.

“We have to do a better job of retaining students, and we have to do a better job of recruiting and, at the graduate level, we have to be aggressive at (recruiting) them.”

Graduate students and international students make up much of the decrease in head count.

Credit hours taken by students are also down 2.3 percent to 161,060 hours as of early Monday morning, according to the reports.

University data show that the number of students applying to the university has increased over past years. But that has not yet led to a greater number of students enrolling overall.

Since taking over as WSU president in 2012, Bardo has repeatedly emphasized increased head count as a goal and has said he wants to reach 22,000 students. He hasn’t said how long it will take for that to happen.

In July, The Eagle reported that WSU has spent nearly $2 million on an out-of-state recruitment firm, mailings and lists of student names since 2013 to boost enrollment numbers.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Early Wichita State enrollment numbers down."