YSU Enrollment keeps rising

It's the third consecutive semester that enrollment has increased.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tammy McBrian has spent the past five summers taking classes at Youngstown State University in hopes of someday earning a bachelor's degree.
"I like that it isn't too crowded," the 34-year-old Boardman resident said Tuesday as she strolled through the center of campus to her next class.
"But this year, there seems to be a few more people, a little more activity. Maybe it's just my imagination."
It's not her imagination.
YSU says preliminary enrollment records show the university has 574, or 14.8 percent, more students taking classes this summer than the same time last year, increasing the student population to 4,443.
A trend
If the numbers hold, the leap would be the second biggest since fall semester 1990, when enrollment went up by 590 students, records show.
It also would be the third consecutive semester that enrollment has increased, after more than a decade of significant student losses.
"It's exciting, and it's very healthy, and fall [enrollment] is looking real strong as well right now," said Terry Ondreyka, YSU vice president for financial affairs.
Ondreyka said the summer enrollment is 150 to 160 students more than YSU projected and could mean about $125,000 in additional tuition income.
Reasons
YSU officials cited several reasons for the boost, including an advertising campaign focused on billboards and television commercials.
Some students also may be attending in the summer to avoid an 8.9-percent increase in tuition that becomes effective in the fall semester in August, said Dr. Thomas Vukovich, YSU's interim director of enrollment management.
But the biggest factor may be that the university is offering 57 more course sections this summer than last, Vukovich said.
"A year ago, we started talking about making sure we had enough courses at the times students want them," he said. "Students will take more courses and credits if it fits their schedule."
Madelyn Carner, 19, a sophomore from New Castle, Pa., said she ordinarily wouldn't be taking classes in the summer. But, her full-time summer job turned into part time, so she enrolled in three summer courses.
"I figured I could get some requirements out of the way, and maybe I'll be able to graduate early," she said Tuesday outside YSU's student center.
Vukovich said he hopes summer's enrollment trend continues into the fall semester. Last fall, enrollment jumped nearly 4 percent, only the second time in a dozen years that has happened. It was the biggest fall semester enrollment increase since 1990.