YSU Spring enrollment pleases officials

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Minority student enrollment is up about 7 percent from a year ago.

YOUNGSTOWN — Spring semester enrollment at Youngstown State University is right where university officials predicted it would be.

The number of students on campus is 12,502, about 95 percent of fall enrollment.

That's 310 higher than the number enrolled a year ago.

The university reported Monday that it experienced a 2.5 percent growth in spring enrollment from the 12,192 students on campus for spring semester 2006.

The number has grown by just over 12 percent, or 1,347 students, since spring semester 2001.

Spring enrollment is traditionally 95 percent of the fall enrollment number, according to Tom Maraffa, special assistant to the president at YSU.

YSU recorded a fall 2006 enrollment of 13,183, the highest in 11 years and 2.9 percent better than fall 2005.

This spring's enrollment of 12,502 is good news.

"It's right where it should be," Maraffa said

The university also reported that the number of minority students increased nearly 7 percent, from 1,868 last spring to 1,996 this spring. Minority enrollment has jumped by 759 students or 38 percent from spring 2001.

Full-time equivalent

The head count is important, but the more vital number, in terms of financing this year's $135 million general fund budget, is the full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment, officials said.

Not every student is enrolled full time, and full-time equivalent enrollment is determined by taking the total number of student hours and dividing that by 15, which is considered a full-time semester load.

One FTE generates about $7,500 in annual revenue. For spring semester alone, the FTE value is about $3,700.

The university reported that FTE this spring is 9,847 students, up from 9,660 last spring.

The university experienced a drop in FTE enrollment a year ago when the number declined by 71 from the 9,731 figure recorded in spring 2005.

YSU leads the state in the rate of enrollment growth over the last six years, according to an enrollment analysis done by the Ohio Board of Regents.

The number of students on campus has risen 11.8 percent between fall 2000, when head count enrollment stood at 11,787, and fall 2006 with 13,183 students.

It was the largest percentage increase among the main campuses of the state's 11 comprehensive public universities over that six-year period, according to the Regents' report.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007