Student enrollment strong, steady across CU campuses

Some 57,591 students are enrolled at University of Colorado campuses this fall, according to preliminary figures presented at today’s meeting of the CU Board of Regents.

Enrollment is generally steady across the system’s four campuses, one of which marks a new enrollment record.

Following are preliminary enrollment estimates. Final figures are due to the state in October.

• University of Colorado Boulder: CU-Boulder has 29,910 students, down 1.7 percent from last year. New freshmen account for 5,500 of the total, a decrease of 2.9 percent. Diversity is growing on the campus, with students of color representing 22 percent of new freshmen. The number of international students rose 14 percent.

• University of Colorado Colorado Springs: With an increase of 4.9 percent over last year, UCCS has 9,782 total students – a new record. Besides the on-campus students included in that tally, some 2,000 students enroll in online and extended-studies courses offered by UCCS. The campus also has welcomed a record number of freshmen students this fall: 1,449, an increase of 7.2 percent over last year.

• University of Colorado Denver: CU Denver has 14,335 students, down 0.8 percent from last year’s total. The figure includes nearly 1,000 new freshmen students, a rise of about 9 percent. New undergraduate transfers to the campus total 1,352, a slight increase over last year.

• University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has 3,564 students, an increase of 2.4 percent over last year. This includes nearly 700 new degree-seeking students (graduate and professional combined). The number of students enrolled in undergraduate nursing programs, 493, increased 20 percent over last year.

Todd Saliman, vice president of budget and finance and chief financial officer for the CU system, told the Board of Regents that CU is not alone in not seeing enrollment growth.

“All of higher education has seen a flattening in enrollment over the past year, probably due to the economy,” he said. “We’ve experienced that as well, with the exception of UCCS.”

Kelly Fox, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer at CU-Boulder, told the board that while the campus continues to enjoy enrollment above historic averages, new pressures around recruiting is resulting in slight declines.

“We see 20 nonresident recruiters – coming from other states to recruit (Colorado) resident students, whereas there used to be three,” she said. “It’s a highly competitive environment. … As we look at the best and brightest students of Colorado, they’re choosing other schools, many of which are offering merit-based award packages.”