Enrollment Exceeds Cap

I was going to link to this article on the newspaper's web site (Centre Daily Times in State College), but when I found the article, I also found out that I would have to purchase it for $2.95!! Since the paper is sitting in front of me, I will recap the highlights....and it'll be free!!

For the second time, Penn State student enrollment at University Park has topped 42,000. It was last fall when the student population first breached the figure, which for a decade has marked the upper limit of the university's target enrollment range.

The public information office reported that the official count this fall has reached 42,294--excluding students who are temporarily based elsewhere for internships, study abroad programs and other endeavors. Include those students and the total reaches 43,252. A year ago that number was 42,914.

Last fall, Penn State enrolled a record freshman class of 8,025 students at University Park. The administration had planned to bring on board only 7,000 first year students that year. But the university's yield rate--the portion of applicants who accept admission offers and show up for classes--climbed substantially.

To help control overall campus enrollment, Penn State President Graham Spanier had said the university would aim to scale back freshmen here to about 7,000. It was not immediately clear how many freshmen are currently enrolled at University Park.

University Park counted 6,489 freshmen in 2005, 5,900 in 2004 and 6,039 in 2003.

Enrollment at all Penn State campuses statewide is now 85,600, up from 83,721 a year ago. Including students who take classes only through the World Campus--an internet based operation--the total is 90,609.