Enrollment is up at Kansas and Missouri universities, down at two-year schools

Against a backdrop of declines in college enrollment nationally, four-year public universities in Kansas and Missouri are seeing more students this fall.

But fewer students are showing up at two-year community colleges.

Kansas’ six state four-year schools enrolled 1,381 more students this fall than a year ago, the state’s Board of Regents said Friday. Wichita State University saw the biggest bump — 453 more students, for a fall enrollment of 15,003.

University officials in both states said their schools have been able to buck the national trend by emphasizing recruitment and retention. It’s a necessary strategy given how crucial tuition revenue is to universities that have seen declines in state support over the years, said Andy Tompkins, CEO and president of the Board of Regents.

For the third year in a row, the University of Kansas’ freshman class has grown, and Kansas State University reported its largest and most diverse enrollment in school history.

KU has enrolled 27,983 students this fall, nearly 200 more students than a year ago.

K-State’s fall enrollment of 24,766 — with 3,579 black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or multiracial students — is up 185 students from a year ago.

“We have been very fortunate to have lots of opportunities to showcase what students are doing here at K-State, and that has appealed to high school students,” said Pat Bosco, vice president for student life.

At the University of Missouri-Kansas City, fall enrollment came in at 16,160 students, 414 more than last year, said university spokesman John Martellaro. One of the biggest percentage leaps the university saw this year was in its international student enrollment, up 40 percent from 1,063 in 2013 to 1,494 this fall.

The University of Missouri’s enrollment this fall is 35,441 students, up 783 students from last year. With the exception of 2013, MU has seen enrollment climb every year since 1995.

University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg has 13,379 students this fall, up 866 student from last year.

Nationally, the U.S. Census Bureau said this week, college enrollment declined by 463,000 students in 2013. That marked the second consecutive year for a drop of that magnitude.

The census report said a large part of the decline took place in two-year colleges, which experienced a 10 percent drop in enrollment from 2012 to 2013.

The recent recession led to rapid increases in enrollments at two-year community colleges and technical schools. But as the economy has recovered, fewer students have turned to those schools.

“We are continuing to see this trend, where people have headed back to work instead of seeking out additional education and training at our state’s community colleges,” Tompkins said. “It is completely expected that as the economy improves there is going to be a decrease in enrollment at our state’s community colleges, compared to the high enrollment numbers we saw during the last recession.”

Overall community college enrollment in Kansas dropped 4.4 percent this fall. Johnson County Community College has a fall enrollment of 19,442, down 242 students from a year ago. Kansas City Kansas Community College’s enrollment dropped from 6,575 last fall to 6,202 this year.

Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City saw enrollment decline from 19,234 in 2013 to 18,222 this fall.

“We are still up a little from where we were before the crazy growth we saw during the recession, 2008 and 2009,” said Mark James, chancellor at MCC-KC. “What remains to be seen is what the new normal is going to be.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 4:50 PM.