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UW Enrollment Sees Slight Increase

Jimmy Emerson via Flickr Creative Commons

Student enrollment at the University of Wyoming has increased slightly over the past year, according to data released this week. On its Laramie campus, enrollment grew by about one percent—or 109 students—to more than 10,500.

UW’s Vice President for Student Affairs Sara Axelson says the slight growth is the result of boosted recruitment efforts.

“We’ve been actively working with our college recruitment efforts in high schools, hosting events, expanding on events, hosting guidance counselors from around the country here at UW,” says Axelson. “We have a representative based in Colorado. We also have a representative based in California. Those are really important areas for us to attract students.”

International student enrollment increased—for the seventh consecutive year—by nearly 6 percent.

The data also showed that UW’s freshman-to-sophomore retention rate has improved by two percentage points—and is now at 76 percent. This is below average for public universities, but Vice President for Student Affairs Sara Axelson says that’s because UW is less selective than most others, which means some freshmen don’t end up committing to higher education.

“University of Wyoming is a land grant university. We have a mission to access to education,” says Axelson. “We’re not open admission, but we do have minimum requirements to attend the university. To be at 76, with a goal of reaching 80 percent in the next number of years is where we’re focused.”

Axelson says this slight but steady growth comes as administrators make long terms plans about the ideal enrollment at UW. 

The data used in this week’s report was collected on the 15th day of class—after deadlines to drop classes and make tuition payments had passed.

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