FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas’ projected fall enrollment numbers are good news on several fronts. There are benefits to come on campus and off.
For the Fayetteville institution, it is significant that the fall class could top 20,700 students. That would be the largest ever for the land grant university.
Campus officials say 3,458 freshmen have enrolled, which is an increase of 500 from last fall.
Growing the university enrollment has been a long-time goal for the campus and this new number, assuming it bears out when the official count is done, is a marker on the way to a larger goal.
But, as Chancellor Dave Gearhart noted this week, “We know that we can best serve the interests of the students and of the state by growing in the right way. We are attracting talented students from across Arkansas and the nation to our state’s flagship campus.”
He didn’t amplify what he meant by “the right way,” but you’ve got to figure it has to do with an orderly expansion of the campus with not only talented and dedicated students but also with the requisite faculty and staff and programs.
According to the campus provost, Sharon Gaber, the university has been readying for the influx since November. The UA has expanded sections for core classes, renovated dorms and increased classrooms, she reported.
The point is to get students to the campus and keep them herelong enough to complete degree requirements and graduate. The ultimate goal is a better educated, better prepared workforce for this state. But there are interim advantages to the community, too, to having more students here throughout their college careers.
University officials expect jumps in both in-state and out-of-state enrollments. But, clearly, these enrollment numbers benefit from the availability of college money to more of Arkansas’ high school graduates through the state’s new lottery.
Most of the incoming freshman from Arkansas will reportedly have the Arkansas Challenge scholarships. As intended, the scholarship program has offered opportunity to a universe of students who might not otherwise have been able to afford college and the UA is getting its share ofthat new college-going population.
Other institutions will, too, as evidenced by the volume of scholarship applications the state Department of Higher Education is processing this year compared to last. The department receivedmore than 125,000 applications for different scholarships this year and just 23,000-plus a year ago. The last of the students who will be getting scholarships should know by month’s end what they will get.
That means this projected UA enrollment may actually be short of what will come. The official count takes place 11 days into the fall semester.
In the meantime, the university isn’t alone in its preparation for this influx of new students. Every one of them represents a boost to the local economy, both directly and indirectly.
For example, the UA doesn’t have enough on-campus housing for all the students who have requested it. So, the campus is contracting with a private apartment complex near campus to house the overflow.
Demand for off-campus housing should be up, too, as should student-generated business for book stores, eateries, entertainment venues, department stores, dry cleaners and every other imaginable service provider in Fayetteville and beyond.
The community may be repelled initially by the shock of new and returning student traffic to city streets, which will be coming soon; but keep in mind that the students are critical cogs in this local economy. So are all the faculty and staff at the university, long Fayetteville’s largest employer and still growing.
BRENDA BLAGG IS A COLUMNIST FOR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 07/23/2010