WOU Sets Enrollment, Diversity and Retention Record

This year's entering class is 1,435 students; 970 freshmen and 465 transfer students.

Salem-News.com

(MONMOUTH, Oregon) - Western Oregon University is celebrating record enrollment for the 2007-08 academic year, with 5,037 students, up 148 from last year. WOU credits record diversity and retention as factors in this increase.

About 20 percent of the entering freshman class are from underrepresented minority backgrounds, nearly double the number in 2005, and the retention rate for freshmen who entered in 2006 is 72 percent, a significant increase over the previous year.

This year's entering class is 1,435 students; 970 freshmen and 465 transfer students. The average grade point average of incoming freshman is 3.25.

WOU is also a leader within the Oregon University System. WOU's total number of applications is up 13 percent from last year, compared to an increase of 5 percent to 6 percent overall in OUS. The amount of admitted students is up 14.3 percent, 1.7 percent for OUS.

Not only are applicants and admitted students on the rise, WOU's dramatic increase in enrollment occurred while the university also became more rigorous in its application of admission standards in a manner that stayed true to WOU's historic access mission. Overall, the number of students denied admission increased by 50 percent.

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Of the 970 entering freshman, 841 are from Oregon covering every county in the state: 327 from mid-Willamette Valley, 273 from Portland Metro area and 247 from the rest of the state. There are also 20 students from Alaska, 50 from Washington and 30 from Hawaii. The rest come from states as far as Connecticut, New York and Ohio.

"Western Oregon University is the most popular small- or mid-sized four-year college for Oregonians to attend," said Associate Provost David Mc Donald. "New initiatives like the Western Tuition Promise, and our proactive and effective retention initiatives, make WOU a very popular choice for students and families. The campus commitment to student success and retention is paying off as students are more likely to graduate."

WOU also has students from a wide-range of high school sizes from the seven-person graduating class of Prairie City High School in Eastern Oregon to Rancho Buena Vista High School in San Diego County, Calif., with a student population of 3,250.