Saturday, November 27, 2010
Staff report
columbus
In line with Ohio’s push to grow its educated work force, the state’s public colleges and universities added another 20,555 students this fall.
Systemwide, this amounts to a 3.9 percent increase, after two previous years of strong enrollment growth.
“Ohio needs more workers with certificates and degrees to compete for jobs and investment. Today’s figures show we continue to enroll more Ohioans in the state’s public system of higher education,” said Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut. “We must build on these gains and continue working toward making the University System of Ohio the best in the nation at driving economic growth.”
Regional campuses led the state in the rate of enrollment growth with a 7.3 percent gain while university main campuses offered the largest numerical growth, adding another 9,367 students. Meanwhile, the community-college sector remained strong, adding 7,570 new enrollees for a growth rate of 3.7 percent.
While enrollment at a few institutions declined, many more broke enrollment records for the second or even third year in a row.
Reports released by Fingerhut this month showed strong increases in online learning and students transferring throughout the University System of Ohio.
The full statewide preliminary head-count enrollments can be found at: http://uso.edu/newsUpdates/media/releases/2009/11/documents/Enrollment-Charts.pdf