YOUNGSTOWN YSU enrollment increases 4 percent

It's the biggest enrollment increase at YSU in 11 years.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., overshadowed a bit of good news coming out of Youngstown State University: Enrollment is up even more than expected.
YSU has 12,250 students on campus this year, up 463 students or nearly 4 percent from 11,787 last year, YSU President David Sweet announced at a trustees meeting Tuesday morning.
Enrollment becomes official on the 14th day of the semester, which was Monday.
It's only the second time in a dozen years that YSU's enrollment has gone up, and it's the biggest increase since 1990, university records show.
It also is an increase from the 12,221 students YSU had on campus on the first day of classes two weeks ago. Normally enrollment decreases from the first day to the official 14th day count.
"That may be unprecedented," said Sweet, who made increasing enrollment the top priority since coming to YSU in July 2000.
Counting enrollment: University enrollment is counted in two ways: head count reflects the number of students enrolled, while full-time equivalent shows the number of students enrolled full time.
YSU's FTE enrollment jumped 6.1 percent to 9,760.
"I think it's been an excellent effort," said Dr. Thomas J. Vukovich, YSU interim executive director of enrollment services.
Trustee Larry Esterly said the increase is remarkable, and he complimented Sweet for getting everyone on campus, including deans and faculty members, involved in the enrollment push.
"There was a broad realization that turning around our enrollment was a job for all of us," he said.
Image campaign: Earlier in the meeting, Dr. Betty Jo Licata, business school dean, updated trustees on an image campaign that university officials hope will mean even bigger gains in enrollment.
Licata said YSU has hired Marcus Thomas to do research, interviews and surveys and put together a comprehensive image campaign for the university.
"We are looking for the advice of professionals," Sweet said.