When classes begin today at the University of Arizona, the Arizona Daily Star reports student enrollment will have grown in numbers again, based on the school’s preliminary enrollment data.
The UA is on track to set another record Wildcat enrollment increase of around a 5 percent increase for the fall semester that starts Monday, Aug. 24.
Last year had the highest overall enrollment with more than 10,000 freshman, transfer and returning undergraduate students and more than 7,800 of those incoming freshmen.
As always, Arizona residents make up the bulk of UA’s student body, with most nonresidents coming from five feeder states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Texas and Washington.
As of last week, the school had 42,022 registered students, compared with 41,800 on the same date last year. Freshman enrollment increased by 247, from 7,944 to 8,161 this year.
Registration continued through the end of last week, and the UA could end up with another 300 to 400 students once the figures are finalized.
The news comes as university enrollment has been stagnant in much of the country because of demographic shifts such as a shrinking population of high school graduates.
The UA bucked the trend by adopting several new recruiting strategies this year, like customized campus tours and parent breakfast programs at high schools around the state.
Meanwhile, Pima Community College has yet to make a dent in an enrollment slump that has left it with the equivalent of 5,000 fewer full-time students since 2011. But things are getting worse at a slower rate, according to early PCC data.
As of last Monday, PCC was trending toward a 3 to 4 percent drop in total enrollment, a notable improvement over the last three school years, when fall enrollment fell an average of 10 percent a year.
The college, under sanction by its accreditor since 2013, recently stepped up efforts to turn things around with a $454,000 advertising campaign and personal phone calls to hundreds of former students inviting them back to finish their studies.
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