Enrollment is the highest its been in OU’s history
It’s official — this year’s freshman class is the largest Ohio University has ever seen.
This year’s freshmen (which total 4,379) also have the highest average high school grade point average in OU history (3.43 average), but their ACT scores declined slightly to 23.9, from an average of 24.0 the year before.
All data is from Sept. 8, or 15 days after classes began — when all public universities in Ohio have to provide data to the Board of Regents, said Craig Cornell, vice provost for Enrollment Management.
OU officials aren’t concerned in the decrease in ACT scores because of the increase in GPA.
“Those balance each other,” Cornell said.
The number has fluctuated in the past. The freshman class during the 2010-11 academic year also had an average composite score of 24.0, but then the average fell to 23.6 the next year.
OU also saw an increase of 46 multicultural students this year.
“Multicultural” includes students who are: African American; American Indian/Alaskan Native; Asian American; Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; Hispanic; or two or more races.
Those categories are official census classifications, which OU tracks by having students select a race during the admissions process, Cornell said.
OU has 130 more students this year than last, but “massive growth is definitely not our plan,” Cornell said.
“Part of what has really been driving these numbers the last two years is this incredible growth in applications,” he said. “We’ve gone from ... 13,300 to almost 21,000 last year.”
Yet large increases in application numbers are leveling off.
“We’re only 200 applications higher than we were last year,” he said.
OU’s residence halls were over capacity earlier this semester because of the large freshman class.
Residential Housing had to take extra measures to be sure all students would have a place to live on campus, such as having 37 male students live with resident assistants for the first week of classes and converting small residence hall lounges into single rooms.
As of Friday, there were 8,047 students living on campus, said Pete Trentacoste, executive director of Residential Housing. There were 8,222 students that moved in during opening weekend.
Residential Housing can accommodate about 8,140 students, according to a previous Post article.
Trentacoste said there are some students who are still living in the converted lounge spaces, but they have said they’re happy with that arrangement.
Residential Housing won’t make them move if they are happy there, Trentacoste said.
Space tends to open in the halls during Spring Semester for various reasons, including students dropping out, transferring, studying abroad and interning away from Athens.
There are usually about 300 to 400 beds open during the spring, Trentacoste said, and Housing will take advantage of the open space.
“That creates a space where we can get the other students plugged in,” he said.
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