By KATELYNN BALL
Staff Writer
In a press release last Monday, Northwestern announced their spring 2016 enrollment numbers.
According to the release, the numbers are almost identical to last year’s 2015 spring semester. In some areas the numbers are lower than the previous spring semester. The head count included the main Alva campus, Enid, Woodward and Ponca City campuses and also includes the concurrent enrolled high school students.
Northwestern’s total enrollment number is 1,940 students for spring classes. This was compared to a year ago with 1,964 students.
Specifically on the Alva campus, the trend has stayed constant with 1,241 students enrolled, compared with 1,260 a year ago.
As for the rest of the campuses, enrollment at the Enid campus only has a three student difference with 256 students this year compared to 259 students last year.
On the Woodward campus, there are 195 students enrolled this year compared to 215 last year. Enrollment was constant at the outreach campus of Ponca City with 177 students attending this year and last year.
The Northwestern press release also included concurrent numbers for this year with 84 high school students enrolled.
An interview with Steve Valencia, Associate Vice President for University Relations, revealed some of the reasons the numbers have remained about the same and what we can do to help.
“It’s not a problem, certainly we’d love to have huge numbers and I think that everybody has to remember enrollment runs in cycles,” Valencia said. “I think there is a lot of uncertainty in the economy in Northwest Oklahoma which is where we get the majority of our students.”
The good news is there may be an upturn next fall and following semesters because of this downturn. The loss of the oil field and other energy related companies has a lot of those people who were laid off looking towards higher education for other job opportunities.
“We are starting to see more students who have gone to work, now inquiring about coming back to school,” Valencia said. “I think we will see greater numbers in the fall than we did the spring.”
The graduating class usually has no or nearly no affect in the spring to spring number ratio.
More good news is that not only the oil field decline will bring in more students in enrollment but in Ranger Preview as well. “I think we are encouraged by the fact that we had a really good Ranger Preview event in the fall. We had near record numbers on that so I think that bodes well for potential enrollment,” Valencia said.
Northwestern is looking to expand recruitment even further throughout Oklahoma. “We are looking at strategies to expand our recruiting base into more populated areas like Oklahoma city, Tulsa and Wichita to try to attract students there too,” Valencia said.
Retention is also a huge part in keeping numbers constant at Northwestern as well as recruitment. “Making sure that the students come here that we retain and hopefully actually see them through to a degree,” said Valencia. He also said that they try to make accommodations to help keep students at Northwestern.
What can students do to help?
“Having pride and showing pride in your institution goes a long way because those people back at home will know if you’ve had a good experience here at Northwestern,” Valencia said.