Recruiting, student retention boost UW enrollment

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming's highest ever enrollment numbers at the start of the fall semester can be attributed to better recruitment and improved retention of students after their freshman year, a UW official said.

In addition, Sara Axelson, vice president for student affairs, said Wyoming students are taking more core subject classes in high school and that appears to be helping enrollment and retention.

"I really do think there is a correlation with students taking good classes and so when they're coming they're more prepared," Axelson said Wednesday.

UW counted 13,122 students this fall, an increase of 202 students from the 2011 fall semester. The previous record for fall enrollment was 12,992 in 2010.

The number does not include Outreach School enrollment, which will be recorded later in the semester.

Axelson said total fall enrollment is expected to be near 14,000.

The new freshman class has 1,584 students, an increase of 50 from 2011. They include 843 in-state students, about the same as last year, and 741 nonresident students, which is nearly 10 percent more than 2011.

Among nonresident freshman, the number of students from Colorado increased 10.7 percent to 383 from last year.

Over all classes, the number of international students increased 4.6 percent to 789.

Axelson said UW had made a point of maintaining funding for student scholarships and increased spending on recruitment in the last year.

"We're certainly not spending as much money as the private institutions do out of state or many of the large publics, but we want to make sure we have a good, competitive admissions program," she said.

UW had an alumnus representing it this week at a college recruiting fair in India, Axelson said.

"Our largest student populations from out of the country are from China and India and Nepal, so we have over 90 countries that are represented at UW," she said. "But the lion's share of the recruiting goes on in the U.S. and significantly in the region. We have a real concerted effort in Colorado, and we have a Denver-based admissions counselor that does an excellent job."

Axelson said UW also increased its freshman-to-sophomore retention rate from 73 percent of the freshman students to 76 percent.

Increasing the student retention rate has been a goal of the university recently.

"Between the sophomore and junior year we also get a little bit concerned, but it's mainly that freshman to sophomore is when you lose students because a lot of times they're not exactly sure what they want to do and when they look ahead and they have only one year under their belt it seems so far away," Axelson said.