Freshmen, sophomores lead OSU-Cascades growth
Oregon State University – Cascades launched the 2012-2013 academic year with an anticipated enrollment of just over 1,000 students, including 237 students taking lower-level courses at Central Oregon Community College in preparation for transferring to OSU-Cascades.
That reflects an overall enrollment increase of 6.5 percent and a 37 percent jump in the number of freshmen and sophomores, school officials said Wednesday.
Juniors, seniors and graduate students, who represent the group officially counted by the Oregon University System, is up slightly to 789 students. Enrollment numbers are not considered final or released by OUS until the fourth week of the 10-week term.
About 30 percent of the student body is new to OSU-Cascades this fall. OSU-Cascades continues to draw students primarily from Central Oregon and Oregon, although students also represent California and 17 other states.
The increase spread across several majors, with the human development and family sciences program leading the growth in undergraduate programs with 147 students.
The business and liberal studies programs also represent more than 100 students each. The fastest growing programs are the energy systems engineering, and exercise and sport science programs, which respectively grew 72 percent and almost five-fold over fall 2011, with more than 60 students each.
There are 124 students in the graduate counseling and teaching programs; those programs are now delivered out of the Graduate & Research Center.
More than 65 students, twice as many as the previous year, are taking OSU online courses.
The percentage of male students increased slightly to 42 percent of the student body. Women comprised about 70 percent of the student population through 2010. The youngest enrolled student is 17; the oldest is 67.
To learn more about OSU-Cascades, view the campus’s fact sheet or contact the admissions office at 541-322-3100.
