University aims for slower growth

Administration considers program enrollment, student interests, economy as guides for future expansion

October 23, 2006 —

The University's current strategic plan calls for slow-paced growth over the next several years both in terms of the number of students enrolled at the University as well as the physical growth of the campus itself.

The recent approval of additional on-campus housing could be one of the last major growth spurts for the University in the next few years, officials say. The slowed growth is a result of several factors including economic hardships in the area and a leveling off of the number of expected high school graduates.

While some believed the University would cap its enrollment at 10,000 students, officials say the institution is only eyeing the number for strategic projection reasons.

"It's not a firm cap," says University President Eric R. Gilbertson. "It's just where our plans take us at this point. It's a matter of strategic thinking of where the institution is going and ought to go."

One of the factors in the growth plan involves economic hardship in the area, particularly in the field of education. Whereas the College of Education was booming just a few years ago, layoffs and difficulty finding teaching jobs has hurt the college's graduation and teacher certification enrollments.

To compare the numbers, the undergraduate enrollment at the University has increased from 6,642 in 2002 to 7,308 this year, while the graduate enrollment has leveled from 1,683 to 1,610 in that same four-year span. Teacher certification, meanwhile, has seen a harsh decrease from 625 students in 2002 to 370 in 2006.

Robert L. Maurovich, vice president of Student Services and Enrollment Management, says the University had not expected such a decline just a few years ago and that the loss of enrollment in those areas probably kept the University from reaching 10,000 students already.

A second factor is a projected flattening of high school graduates. Statistics show that within the next few years, the number of expected graduates will decrease as part of a cycle of increasing and decreasing graduate numbers.

"We are confident in the capacity of our university to draw students," Gilbertson says. "On the other hand, we do know that the available pool is going to level off over time which means some of the pressure on us to grow is likely to abate."

Shifting student interests

Another statistic high school graduates are providing involves the shift in student interests, something both Gilbertson and Maurovich point to as having an effect on the University's growth. While hardly a new phenomenon in academia, the shift has taken students away from the College of Education and towards other disciplines. The University has seen a resurgence in growth in the interests of health sciences and Maurovich says high school graduates are indicating they too are interested in pursuing a career in those fields.

The increased interest in health sciences and the updating of other facilities means physical growth that still could be looming is a new health sciences building.

Gilbertson says the renovation and addition to Pioneer Hall will update the engineering and technology facilities, so the focus would move to updating health sciences.

"That becomes our next priority," Gilbertson says. "To give a better home to the health sciences programs."

Nothing is yet set in stone for the new facilities as the go ahead would have to come from the state, which is currently heavily involved with other pressing matters.

"Everything in Lansing right now is preoccupied with elections," Gilbertson says. "Our hope is, when the elections are over, there will be attention to the capital needs of universities."

A new health sciences building could house the nursing, occupational therapy, and health sciences programs as well as one or two other disciplines. Gilbertson says the University's master plan indicates that the building would be constructed on the northwest corner of campus.

Growing on-campus residency

In the meantime, the University will keep its attention on the new housing additions, which became a necessity after a year that saw a record number of students living on campus. This year, over 2,000 students have taken up on-campus residency, a stark contrast for a University that saw just over 500 students living on campus as little as 10 years ago.

So while the total enrollment numbers have leveled in the last three years, Gilbertson says several other factors make the growth numbers somewhat misleading.

"This year we have fewer students than we had a year ago, but we have more credit hours because undergraduates take more credits," he says. "The real workload of the campus has increased even though the total number of students has been very flat."

Maurovich says the move from a commuter school to a residential one was by design, but that increased student interest in on-campus housing and programs has helped the process along. And while the growth has come in spurts and numbers and interests are shifting, Gilbertson says he is most proud that the University has stayed the course and grown the right way, evident by the use of the new facilities the campus has added over the last decade or so.

"I think it's been done with careful planning. It hasn't just been haphazard growth," he says. "It has been an extraordinary period of time, but you won't see a doubling of the campus again in the next ten years, I think that's pretty clear."

Though Gilbertson says the campus will not double in size in the next 10 years like it has in the last, he also points out that a University is never really done growing and that they will continue to reevaluate circumstances as needed.

"You never want to say the campus is complete because I'm sure we'll always have ideas for new things," Gilbertson says. "But [the additions] will certainly have taken us a long way to giving us superior facilities for all of our academic programs.”