UM reaches enrollment milestone

For the first time in its 115-year history, UM has more than 14,000 enrolled students, setting records for both total headcount and full-time equivalents.

UM has a total enrollment of 14,207 this fall semester, a jump of 349 from a year ago and 246 more than the previous all-time record set in fall 2006.

The new record for full-time equivalent students is 12,295.97, which is 247.17 better than a year ago. (An FTE represents 15 undergraduate and 12 graduate semester credits.) FTEs jumped among both resident and nonresident students.

Total enrollment at UM’s mountain campus is 12,566, which is 240 more than a year ago. College of Technology enrollment stands at 1,641 – 109 higher than last fall semester.

“The enrollments for fall semester 2008 make it clear that declining numbers in the high schools of the state do not necessarily translate into declining numbers of new college students,” UM President George Dennison said. “With only a few more than half of the graduating seniors opting for college in the past, higher education still has before it the challenge of assuring that more of Montana’s youth prepare themselves for success in the 21st century.”

Dennison said the total headcount exceeded projections by more than 300, and FTEs were 200 more than expected. Nonresident FTEs also were 75 more than a year ago.

“Quite clearly, the faculty, staff and recruiters have succeeded in their efforts to let young people know of the value we have to offer,” he said. “I take satisfaction in noting that the other three campuses of The University of Montana (UM Helena College of Technology, Montana Tech of UM in Butte and UM-Western in Dillon) also exceeded projections for the year, demonstrating the success of our strategic initiatives.”

Dennison said the fall semester numbers are a nice boost after lower-than-expected enrollment figures for the Summer Semester. Total summer headcount was 3,565, which was 76 less than a year ago. The decline only affected the mountain campus, which was down 83 students. The COT actually had seven more students during summer 2008 than it did in 2007.