Branch Campus Exceeds Enrollment Goal
Enrollment may be down this spring at several state universities, but it’s at a record high on the Spokane campus of Washington State University.
With 368 full-time students this semester, enrollment at the branch campus has increased by 19 percent, campus officials said.
“We feel pretty good about this,” said William Gray, the Spokane campus executive officer and dean. “We have a strong track record and we stand out.”
The semester total also exceeds the Legislature’s enrollment goal of 364 for the Spokane branch. Other public universities in the area have missed their enrollment targets.
Established in 1989, WSU’s Spokane branch has seen a 140 percent increase in enrollment over the last five years, Gray said.
Unlike the main WSU campus in Pullman, the Spokane branch is made up mostly of graduate and professional students - “a more stable population that’s less influenced by demographic changes and the increases in tuition,” Gray said.
The branch campus also has added several new programs over the years, including master’s degree programs in architecture and interior design. Beginning last fall, it also expanded its list of classes in health policy and administration, psychology and educational administration.
WSU Spokane also started offering professional certificate programs in real estate and insurance.
By 2005, the campus hopes to have an enrollment of 1,500, Gray said.
In addition to enrollment, racial diversity within the student body is up.
Although only 38 of the students are non-whites, the total ethnic population has grown by 46 percent since last year.
Diversity has always been part of the curriculum and recruitment process, Gray said. While there are no specific courses on multiculturalism at the branch campus, Gray speculates that minority students are more drawn to Spokane than to other rural areas in Eastern Washington.
“Spokane is hardly a cosmopolitan environment, but maybe students find this area less threatening,” he said.
Students also are flocking to two other WSU branch campuses: Enrollment in Vancouver is up by 18.4 percent over the last year and in the Tri-Cities by 8.4 percent, school officials said.
, DataTimes