Photo/ Andrew Cummins EWC sophomore Brett Hageman, of Fort Laramie, takes a break from his farm and ranch management course schedule by playing pool with friends Thursday morning in the college’s student lounge area. The school’s enrollment this fall rose to nearly 1,700 students.

If the hallways at Eastern Wyoming College seem a little busier lately, they are. Enrollment at the college has jumped by 250 students over the past three years, and administrators say they hope those trends continue into the future.

College president Tom Armstrong said at campuses across the country, there is a feeling increases in college enrollment are due to the bad economy. He downplayed those notions and instead credited the college’s marketing team, recruiters and strong academic programs as being the primary forces driving the increase.

Since the 2006 fall semester, headcount enrollment increased 250 students to the 1,696 students reported for the 2009 fall semester. Official headcount enrollment for the 2010 spring semester is not yet available, but 10-day estimates show a slight decrease in part-time students and a slight increase in fulltime students.

Headcount enrollment counts the total number of students taking any classes at EWC. This count includes the law enforcement academy in Douglas, adult education classes and community fitness classes.

Armstrong said a more telling figure for how EWC is doing in its goal of increasing student numbers is the full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment. This figure measures the equivalent number of fulltime students attending classes on campus. FTE is calculated by dividing the total number of credit hours pursued at a college by the number of credits needed for a full study load. At EWC, 12 credit hours constitutes one full time student for FTE statistics.

The FTE enrollment for the fall semester was the equivalent of 1211.84 students. That number is significantly higher than the 850.25 FTE enrollment recorded in the spring semester three years ago.

“That’s good news,” Armstrong said. “That means there are more people taking a full load. More students are taking more classes.”

Armstrong said in his mind the key factor in the growth of the college has been the marketing department and strong emphasis on recruitment. Three years ago, the school expanded the recruitment staff of the college to service students in a wider area. Armstrong said that investment is now “paying dividends.”

“We have been marketing, branding the image, getting the word out, telling the story,” he said. “The economy may be part of it, but I think some of those things that we have control over may be the answer to why we’re growing.”

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For the complete article see the 02-05-2010 issue.

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