WKU enrollment tops 21,000, sets record for 14th consecutive year

Enrollment at WKU has passed 21,000, setting a record for the 14^th consecutive year.

Fall 2011 enrollment reported to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education is 21,048, up 145 from fall 2010.

“The fact that we continue to maintain steady growth is a testament to the value our students and their families put on a WKU education,” President Gary Ransdell said.

He also said hard work from the various areas in Enrollment Management to recruit and retain students plays a key role in the final numbers.

WKU Provost Gordon Emslie cited growth in the dual credit program with high school students, transfer students seeking four-year degrees, an increase in the number of seniors and the more than triple number of international students in the Navitas program as important elements in enrollment.

For example, the 32 percent growth in dual credit “shows that we are reaching out to high schools to provide them a college experience,” Dr. Emslie said. “Students who take dual credit courses typically have a higher success rate when they enter college.”

He said 330 new students have been accepted into the Honors College at WKU, bringing enrollment in the only Honors College in Kentucky to 1,111. Those students have an average ACT score of 29.3, he said.

Final fall enrollment since 2001:

• 2011                21,048
• 2010                20,903
• 2009                20,712
• 2008                19,761
• 2007                19,265
• 2006                18,664
• 2005                18,645
• 2004                18,513
• 2003                18,391
• 2002                17,818
• 2001                16,579

Contact: Freida Eggleton, (270) 745-5432.