The freshman class is the most diverse in DePaul's history.
Steady growth among transfer students continues.
Enrollment surges past 25,000; strong gains in transfer, grad students
October 19, 2009
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Despite the troubled economy, DePaul set an all-time record for enrollment, surpassing 25,000 for the first time while welcoming its most diverse freshman class ever.
Enrollment for the fall is 25,072—716 students or about 3 percent higher than last year’s figure. Driving the growing enrollment were strong gains in new graduate enrollments and new transfer enrollments, which rose 9 percent and 7 percent, respectively, over the previous year.
“Our enrollment is up because of strategic decisions the university made to increase transfer and graduate students, and our freshman class is dead on target,” says David H. Kalsbeek, senior vice president for Enrollment Management and Marketing. “There is a steady, ongoing trajectory of gains in students, credit hours and revenue.” A record 298,385 credit hours have been registered for the fall, about 3.7 percent higher than last year.
One quarter of this year’s freshman class of 2,531 students is African American or Latino—about 40 percent higher than last year when African Americans and Latinos were 18 percent of the freshman class. About 56 percent of the freshman class is white and the remaining percentage is Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, multiracial or opted not to identify their backgrounds.
“It’s particularly noteworthy to have this kind of increase in underrepresented minorities from a large urban market and continue to strengthen the class’s academic profile and attain all that at a private institution’s price point,” Kalsbeek says. The composite ACT score for the freshman class was 24.5—nearly identical to last year’s.
Kalsbeek attributed the increase in underrepresented minorities to expanded outreach and recruitment efforts and also to the launch of the First-Year Academic Success Program that offers pre-requisite math and writing courses at no cost to incoming students in the summer. The program is designed help academically under prepared students for college-level coursework, particularly math. More than 200 students participated in the program this summer.
The university’s transfer enrollment of 1,655 students is an all-time record. DePaul’s growing transfer population reflects the successful transfer enrollment initiatives put in place as part of the VISION twenty12 strategic plan.
The sluggish economy, however, is having an impact, according to Kalsbeek. Among freshmen, for example, 85 percent filed for financial assistance compared to 75 percent of last year’s freshmen who sought financial aid. “We also saw a higher number of freshmen and their families who had received their financial aid packages file an appeal, saying that their circumstances had changed,” Kalsbeek says. As a result, our commitment to institutional need-based grants has increased considerably.
Fewer out-of-state students applied for either freshman or transfer admission, which Kalsbeek believes is symptomatic of the economy. “Students are staying closer to home because of the economic uncertainties, but that’s also an advantage for DePaul because we are in a large, urban center. We become an attractive alternative for Chicago-area students who had been considering or going to schools out of state.”
We also saw an increase in currently enrolled students experiencing unanticipated financial difficulties in affording their tuition. Nevertheless, our freshman-to-sophomore year retention rate is an all-time high of 85 percent, contributing to the overall record undergraduate enrollment this fall.
The economy may also be playing a role in boosting graduate enrollments. New graduate student enrollment was 1,782—9 percent better than last year. Kalsbeek notes that DePaul offers many professional master’s degrees, whose value and popularity can be counter-cyclical to the economy. “A master’s degree can provide a buffer from downsizing for people in the workplace, or allows for a change in career.”
The number of new graduate students admitted in the School of Education rose from 305 last year to 378—a 24 percent increase. New graduate enrollment in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences also showed a strong gain—from 450 new students admitted last year to this year’s 512 or a 14 percent increase.
“DePaul’s greatest investment is in its broad, balanced portfolio of academic programs to weather the ebbs and flows in student interests and career trends,” Kalsbeek says. “The breadth and depth of our academic offerings is an important asset for us. That’s why we are making the deliberate choice to expand our graduate and adult degree programs.”