Utah Valley University recently became the state’s largest university, passing the U in enrollment.
Compared to last fall semester, UVU’s student population increased by 1,879, bringing the school to a total of 33,211 enrolled. This six percent increase allowed UVU to take the U’s top spot as the largest university in the state.
UVU is predicted to continue growing at this pace and reach more than 40,000 students by 2020. The U is expected to see slower growth, at one percent each year for the next decade.
Both schools are seeing higher enrollment and much of that is due to population growth and activity in Utah. Both universities have “rebounded” from the dip in enrollment caused by the change in missionary age for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2012. This year’s freshmen class at the U is the second biggest of the past two decades.
Melinda Colton, director of Public Relations at UVU, explained the university’s recent growth to be a product of the university’s mission and combination of “intellectual and professional seriousness.”
“UVU continues to offer an education focused in engaged learning — a process that involves hands-on learning in the very subjects students are studying,” Colton said.
In place of increasing the size of enrollment, Matthew López, director for the Office of Admissions, explained some of the U’s plans for the future. These goals include more attention to faculty-to-student ratios, increasing undergraduate and graduate research opportunities, attracting more professors who “are on the cutting edge” of their fields, and making flexible education options available for students.
“Growth is always planned,” López said. “We are not in a race to be the biggest.”
While UVU will continue as an “open-admissions” university, it has recently implemented enrollment standards to guide students in their higher education experience. In contrast, the U approaches student admissions holistically, accounting for students’ activities, test scores, GPA and other factors.
“We want to increase the standards, the criteria and the amount of quality individuals that are at the [U],” López said.
Undergrad tuition could also be a factor to which university students choose. Tuition as UVU is $2,339 for residents and $7,247 for non-residents (based on 15 credit hour enrollment per semester). At the U, it’s $8,240 in-state and $26,180 out-of-state.
To help accommodate the surge in enrollment, UVU received a 21-million-dollar funding increase from the state legislature. The money will go towards hiring 70 full-time faculty members, making satellite campuses more accessible and emphasizing weekend and evening classes.
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