September 26, 2016
Eleanor Sturt
The estimation made for the student body for fall 2016 had a five percent error and was off by 598 students.
The projected enrollment for fall was 11,397 students. This figure was exceeded as of Sept. 8 at 11,995 students, a 6.2 percent increase from 2015’s enrollment.
For fall 2015, the projected student enrollment was underestimated at 11,465, which was met by 11,299 students, a 1.5 percent decrease from 2014.
The estimation is made by a model designed by the Office of Institutional Research. It takes percentages of previous class standings and creates a projected estimation based on the information given, according to Mathew Cox, executive director of Enrollment Management.
“It takes the historical percentages of freshmen to sophomore, sophomore to junior, junior to senior, and senior to fifth-year senior and makes an estimation based off of the information,” said Cox.
More information is then added based off of the number of applications received for freshman and transfer students, Cox explained.
Of the 11,995 students, 2,826 students are freshmen. This number reflects how many freshmen there are based on credit hours, not incoming students, according to Cox.
The number of incoming freshman is 2,056, which is still an increase of 418 from the 2015 census date.
Although there were more than expected freshman this semester, housing was still able to accommodate the number of students, according to associate vice chancellor for Administration and Finance Carlos Garcia.
“Because many of the incoming freshman were Colorado residents, they did not need student housing, and we were very grateful for that,” said Garcia.
Students returning to UCCS make up 8,231 students at UCCS, or 68.7 percent, the rest are comprised of admitted freshman (17.1 percent), students enrolled in the master’s programs (2.8 percent), students enrolled in doctorate programs (0.4 percent), re-admitted students (0.6 percent), non-degree students (1.2 percent), and transfer students (9.2 percent).
With 2,268 students, this fall marks the highest number of incoming transfer students admitted to UCCS.
Within all this data, it is easy to forget these numbers are also people, Cox explained.
“Our mission is to increase college participation in the state of Colorado, particularly in southern Colorado.
The increase in students is not just a change in numbers, but it is that many more students that have opportunities to better their living circumstances and that of their families,” said Cox.
Students can now view updated enrollment information in the 2016 Fall Databook, which reflects statistics taken from the Integrated Student Information System.