JOHNSON CITY – Spring enrollment at East Tennessee State University is up almost 5 percent over last year's spring semester, with an overall headcount of 10,818. This number includes 236 medical students and 242 physicians enrolled in seven residency or five fellowship programs through the James H. Quillen College of Medicine.
The current spring enrollment shows strongest increases in new freshmen, transfers and graduate students. This spring term reflects a 10 percent increase from last spring in students seeking master's degrees. The overall undergraduate and graduate enrollment growth has resulted in "larger than normal" classes in some areas, but ETSU is making every effort to "provide full opportunities for students to progress through their degree programs without delay," according to Dr. Linda Doran, vice provost for academic affairs.
She suggests that newly initiated ETSU recruitment and program delivery strategies, as well as external factors like the downturn in the economy in the Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia region, are among reasons for the increase in enrollment.
Doran says ETSU has planned for enrollment increases by supporting students in two new ways. First, the university has expanded the number of graduate and undergraduate programs delivered entirely off campus to students in locations close to their homes.
ETSU has started five new off-campus "cohort" programs this spring to bring the total to 23 off-campus programs started within the last two years. Students enter such a program as a "class" or "cohort" and stay together as a group through graduation.
Some of ETSU's off-campus locations for these group programs are in Chattanooga, Oak Ridge, Sevierville, Rogersville and Mountain City, in addition to the long-standing ETSU presence at Bristol, Greeneville and Kingsport.
Off-campus degree programs include undergraduate programs in nursing, engineering technology and the bachelor of general studies (B.G.S.). Graduate programs include teacher education, the doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis, and the master of liberal studies (M.A.L.S.).
Doran says the second recruitment strategy is to make transferring more efficient. ETSU is seeing a "dramatic increase" in the number of new transfers as a result of partnerships with Northeast State Tech, Walters State and other community colleges across the entire Tennessee/Virginia border region.
"These partnership agreements guide students through the two-year college degree at the community colleges so they can transfer to ETSU without loss of credit."
Doran notes that while growth in student numbers can be linked to ETSU internal decisions, the enrollment increases may also be influenced by the downturn in the regional economy. A significant loss of job opportunities has historically sent students, particularly adults, back to the region's colleges and universities for career redirection and degree completion until the job market revives.
Recognized by the Kaplan/Newsweek College Catalog as a top university in its size category of schools offering the best value for the tuition dollar, ETSU is now attracting students who might have previously selected more expensive out-of-state or private institutions. It is also possible that families are deciding to keep more of the region's college-bound students closer to home after the events of last Sept. 11, as a conservative economic measure.
The ETSU increase in spring enrollments builds on last fall's increase, and applications for next fall semester are also up. The number of freshman applications for the upcoming fall term is up close to 15 percent and new transfer applications are up significantly. In addition, Summer School applications are running ahead of where they were this time last year, especially for transfers. ETSU has increased the number and availability of Summer School courses in anticipation of the effects of the economy, success of recruitment efforts, and students' decisions to maintain year-round enrollments through completion of their degrees and graduation.