North Dakota's two research universities are both reporting positive numbers on the first full day of enrollment. North Dakota State University officials report enrollment is holding steady compared with last year at this time. University of North Dakota officials say first day numbers are up 4.8 percent compared with last year. The official enrollment count is taken four weeks into the semester.
NDSU has 14,240 students enrolled in its undergraduate, professional and graduate programs compared to fall 2010 first day count of 14,204.
NDSU has 3,147 new undergraduates with 2,444 freshman and 703 transfer students. The number of international students is 1,165. Graduate students are up 44 to 1,899. NDSU first day enrollment reports show more than 95 percent of students are in traditional classroom-based courses.
UND’s first day enrollment is 14,076, an increase of 645 over last year’s initial day tally of 13,431. UND showed good growth for the first day of classes. The UND Graduate School showed the best growth with 2,556 students, up 7 percent over last year’s tally of 2,400. UND has 2,945 new undergraduate students, an increase over last year’s 2,925 students. Transfer students are up 4 percent, 841 compared to 812. New freshmen numbers are down slightly by nine students, 2,104 compared to 2,113. UND also showed a 2 percent increase in professional students (medicine and law), 504 compared to 496. And the number of returning undergraduate students is up 6 percent, 8,071 compared to 7,610.
NDSU President Dean L. Bresciani said because of some legislators’ concerns about NDSU’s growth, the university did what it could to moderate new student enrollment while the topic is being examined. Bresciani said that enrollment growing slightly in spite of those efforts suggests how in demand NDSU has become. “We are a Top 100 research university offering an exceptional educational experience to a purposefully sized student body of degree seeking students with appropriate academic credentials for success. Students see the quality and affordable value of the NDSU experience – a degree from one of the top student-focused land grant research universities in the country. There are few, if any other land grant universities that conduct research at our quality and quantity, but remain student-focused.”
UND President Robert O. Kelley said, “I am pleased by the positive trends we see in the university when it comes to enrollment growth, from new undergraduate students to the graduate and professional level. The managed enrollment growth, produced in part by increased efforts in student retention, is a strong indication that students and their families around the region not only want to come to UND but they like what they see when they get here. It is a strong indication that we are pursuing the right paths as we continue to build the exceptional UND.”