With its growth rate, YSU leads big schools

YSU leads Ohio's largest universities in recent growth.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- If Youngstown State University's campus seems busier these days, it's for good reason.
The school is hosting more students now than it has in nearly a decade, YSU officials learned earlier this fall.
On Thursday, the school received more good news with the release of figures that show YSU leads other major Ohio universities in growth over the last four years.
YSU has posted a double-digit increase in student enrollment since 2000, according to the university's analysis of figures released this week by the Ohio Board of Regents.
Only Kent State and Wright State universities did nearly as well as YSU.
"We have worked hard to develop relevant academic programs, to attract high-quality faculty and staff, and to publicize our successes, past and present -- all of which has resulted in more people choosing YSU," university President Dr. David Sweet said in a news release.
Goal reached
Sweet has said previously that increasing enrollment is his primary goal since coming to the campus about four years ago. He is making good on that aim.
YSU's fall enrollment of more than 13,000 students is its highest in nine years and represents a nearly 2 percent increase from fall 2003.
This fall marks the 12th consecutive semester that enrollment has increased at YSU, the university reported.
The enrollment growth since 2000 reverses a nearly decade-long decline in the number of students attending the North Side campus.
In the early 1990s, about 15,000 students took classes at the university.
Enrollment dwindled at YSU and universities throughout the state in the 1990s as the economy boomed and more people chose to enter the workplace instead of the classroom.
But the struggling economy of recent years has contributed to a resurgence in higher education.
With the continuing enrollment growth being witnessed in this decade, YSU remains firmly on track to meet an enrollment goal of 14,000 by 2008, university officials said.