Another record enrollment year

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Enrollment at Bowling Green State University has reached a new high again this fall with the help of record numbers of students of color and out-of-state students.

Combined enrollment at the Bowling Green and Firelands campuses is 21,132 students, up by 61 from the previous record of 21,071, set a year ago. Among this year's total are a record 19,108 students—including 3,023 graduate students—on the main campus.

“Main-campus undergraduate enrollment is basically stable (16,085, up by six students from 2005), and that is the goal,” noted Dr. William Knight, BGSU assistant vice president for planning and accountability.

First-year students at BGSU number 4,287, the sixth highest such figure ever. It includes 3,656 freshmen—fourth most in BGSU history—and 631 transfer students. Records for first-year students (4,627) and freshmen (3,929) were both set in 2004.

Bowling Green is a more ethnically diverse institution than ever, with 2,457 undergraduate students of color, including 759 first-year students of color, or 20.7 percent of this fall's new students. The number of new African-American students has more than doubled since 2003, reaching a record 491 this fall. The first-year Hispanic student population is also at a new high of 157.

Students from states other than Ohio have enrolled in record numbers as well. Among the 1,483 undergraduates from outside Ohio are 505 new out-of-state students, who represent 13.8 percent of the new freshman class and include 250 students from Michigan and 53 from Illinois. All of those figures are the largest ever in their respective categories.

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(Posted September 08, 2006 )