For the second straight year, Emporia State University has positive enrollment news to convey.
Last year, ESU had its first enrollment increase in years, with total fall enrollment at 4,820. On Wednesday, the Kansas Board of Regents announced ESU had a 6-percent growth in enrollment between last fall and this fall, pushing enrollment to 5,110. ESU reports a 7-percent growth in first-time undergraduate student numbers and a 9-percent increase in undergraduate transfers.
Besides the overall enrollment increase, ESU noted significant growth in several programs — like a 19-percent jump in elementary education and nursing/pre-nursing programs, a 22-percent increase for health and human performance and a 72-percent increase in applied criminology.
ESU is now standing out when it comes to university enrollment trends in Kansas. The Board of Regents noted a 4-percent increase at Fort Hays State, with a nearly 4-percent growth marker for the University of Kansas Medical Center, a 0.5-percent increase at the University of Kansas, a 0.3-percent growth number at Kansas State University and flat enrollment at the K-State School of Veterinary Medicine. Pittsburg State’s enrollment declined by 0.6 percent. Wichita State’s enrollment dipped 2.5 percent.
At Flint Hills Technical College, fall enrollment dipped almost 30 percent, from 1,835 to just under 1,300. Technical colleges in general had lower enrollments year-to-year, ranging from 0.8 percent at the Wichita State Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology to over 9 percent at Manhattan Area Technical College.
