After three years of relative decline in undergraduate and post-baccalaureate enrollment, preliminary figures released by UH officials show a 4 percent increase among students attending classes this semester.
UH officials attribute the success to the hard work that’s been done to bolster the University’s reputation within the Houston area. Board of Regents Chairman Welcome Wilson said aspirations to achieve flagship status and the University’s new chancellor add to the positive reputation within the area.
"I’m out in the community every day," Wilson said. "I’m swamped with positive comments by people I speak with about UH. I’m with full confidence that the same thing applies with people like parents and students who ask about the University."
The record number of 36,098 students enrolled in the fall semester is just a part of the 59,222 enrolled in the UH System.
UH-Downtown and UH-Victoria also logged record enrollment figures. UH-Downtown notched a student enrollment of 12,283, a 4.1 percent increase from last year’s 11,793. UH-Victoria recorded a head count of 3,202, up from last year’s 2,784.
In Fall 2007 UH-Downtown had 11,793 students enrolled in courses while UH-Victoria recorded 2,652 students enrolled. UH-Clear Lake also reported an increase of enrollment to 7,639 students from last year’s 7,522.
Edward Hugetz, associate vice chancellor for Planning and University Outreach, said the reputation payoff comes from aggressive marketing campaigns and strategies implemented by several levels of the University.
"I want to credit the University as a whole for really being determined to get an enrollment increase from the admissions department to financial aid department to the colleges," Hugetz said.
Hugetz said an example of such aggressive marketing efforts is the Bauer College of Business, which is enjoying a maximum capacity of students in its executive MBA program. Hugetz said through billboards and newspaper advertisements the college has been promoting the fact that its entrepreneurship program is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. on the Princeton Review’s list of top undergraduate entrepreneurship programs. Student organizations within that college, such as the Hispanic Business Student Association, have done outreach programs in high schools to promote higher education.
"If you want the full college experience, the idea of entering into a four-year institution from the start and staying with it, that is becoming attractive to more, and more students are applying to UH," Hugetz said.
Both Wilson and Hugetz said the University also set record numbers in undergraduate applications, giving the admissions office plenty of students to choose from.
Wilson also said those not accepted into UH were encouraged to apply to UH-Downtown, where admission requirements are more open. Once a student is accepted, Hugetz said, the individual no longer gets a plain acceptance letter. Now they get a packet.
"It was a very elaborate package that gives students the sense they were part of something exciting and that we were anxious of them to join us," Hugetz said. "A lot of these little marketing pieces that we’ve developed over the past few years have really begun to pay off."
Hugetz said historically when there is a recession universities notice an increase in enrollment. Between 2002 and 2003, UH saw a surge of 623 students, marking a nearly 2 percent increase. Wilson and Hugetz said that traditionally when there are few jobs in the community, some people take advantage of the time to return to school and upgrade their credentials.
Hugetz said the relationship between statewide university enrollment and the economy’s strength can be seen as counter-cyclical, though this time it seems the state has been fairly lucky.
"It’s true especially in metropolitan universities, we are influenced by the job market and the softening of the economy has probably had some effect," Hugetz said. "Though I can’t imagine that it was a major effect because Texas has so far escaped a lot of the national problems with the economy."
Hugetz credited the enrollment increase on the efforts of the many faculty and students during the past few years, predicting an increase in enrollment in the spring. Enrollment for the UH system is just below the 60,000 student mark, Hugetz said, which is a milestone given the administration’s long-term strategy.
"That’s pretty exciting," Hugetz said. "A few years ago, when the board identified a target, we wanted to get by 2015 close to 67,000 to 68,000. Now we’re very close to 60,000. I think that it’s good for the city, it’s good for students and it’s great for the UH system and UH in particular."
