By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Continued growth in enrollment at Northwest Missouri State University has made history.
For the first time in the history of the university, Northwest has passed 8,000 enrolled students on the Maryville campus.
Assistant Vice President of Admissions Allison Hoffmann says the university is thrilled to see 8,505 students enrolled, a rise of 8.1%.
"It's really the hard work of a lot of teams and a lot of units here at the institution," Hoffmann tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "It's aligned with our strategic plan; we really try to work together to hit the institution's enrollment goals."
Hoffman says that the number of 8,505 shows growth in several student categories.
"We've seen significant growth in our graduate enrollment, also in our international enrollment, and then we are pleased that our first-time transfer students and our first-time freshman students were also up this year compared to this time last year," Hoffmann says.
The growth in enrollment this year also marks five consecutive years of overall growth. Despite that number though, Hoffmann says Northwest continues looking for ways to improve.
Hoffmann says the continued rise in enrollment is due to Northwest continuing to follow its strategy.
"We have been strategic about our graduate programming, especially our graduate online programming, and the programs that are available," Hoffmann explains. "We know many of our graduate students are in different locations and so the online flexible learning is a great option for our graduate students."
And offline, Hoffmann says she is also pleased with the number of new on campus students
"So, those are things that we've worked hard over the years to really see those numbers where they are today,"
Hoffmann says the continued growth is not something that was accomplished overnight but it took years of planning to have this success.
Hoffmann says the goal every semester is to see an increase in enrollment
"You know, I think we continue to evaluate and ensure looking at our numbers how we can continue to work to meet those both on campus and online," Hoffmann explains. "So, I think it's difficult to say how high we would want those numbers to go, I think for us it's about finding the right fit as an institution as well. and so, we continue to keep that a priority."
Northwest is continuing to search for ways to get students back on campus still. Despite the rise in admission, on campus admission saw a six percent decline.