ASU West hit its highest full-time enrollment levels ever this spring with 4,396 full-time students.
Most universities expect a slight decrease in spring enrollment because of the normal dropout rate from fall to spring semesters, said Paul Zuzich, director of institutional planning and research at West.
West experienced a slight drop in the number of all students enrolled in courses, including students taking one-credit courses, since last fall. There were 5,804 total students enrolled last fall and 5,758 this spring.
Although West experienced a decrease in total head count, full-time equivalent enrollment jumped 13 percent from a year ago.
The student credit hours, the total number of credits for which all students are registered, also reached a high of 52,355 this semester.
Enrollment has increased in a number of academic areas at West, Vice Provost Gebe Ejigu said. He said one factor was the first freshman class of 269 students who enrolled in the fall.
Additional reasons for the FTE growth include the maturation of programs and expanding the university to a four-year school, Ejigu said.
Among the academic areas, the College of Arts and Sciences and Division of Collaborative Programs have experienced the largest growth in the student credit hours ever.
"Our mission is to satisfy and serve education to the West Valley and the (FTE) growth shows a measure of success. Our goal was to reach an FTE of 5,000 by fall 2003, but we think it will be sooner then that," Ejigu said.
Reach the reporter at kristin.roberts@asu.edu.
