WKU puts priority on enrollment

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) - After seeing a decline in students, officials at Western Kentucky University are putting a priority on enrollment.

WKU President Gary Ransdell says the school’s “highest priority” is to “recapture enrollment in the marketplace.”

“The days of dramatic growth are gone,” he said. “The campus has come to understand how critical enrollment is to the financial statement.”

The Daily News (https://bit.ly/1kCuctR) reports the Bowling Green-based school is trying to overcome a $3.1 million shortfall in revenue after seeing a drop in tuition last fall and this spring. The newspaper reports WKU has an enrollment of about 21,000 students.

Ransdell says there’s been a decline of 300 to 400 non-traditional part-time undergraduate students over the past year.

“Jobs are more plentiful” with an improving economy, and Ransdell said prospective students are looking at other options.

“We saw a strange shift when the economy improved,” said Howard Bailey, WKU vice president for student affairs. “Folks are finding work and not going back to college.”

Officials are now focusing on enrolling traditional college students.

Brian Meredith, who is WKU’s associate vice president for enrollment management, says projections based on March enrollment numbers look promising.

“We are cautiously optimistic with the early numbers,” Ransdell said.

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Information from: Daily News, https://www.bgdailynews.com