(Photo courtesy of OSU-Cascades)
Oregon State University – Cascades is serving a total of 1,122 students at its new campus and its Graduate & Research Center. The Bend campus’s official enrollment report represents a 10 percent overall increase in OSU-Cascades students and a six percent increase in undergraduate degree-seeking students.
Included in the official fall enrollment total are 60 first-year students and 210 graduate students. Graduate enrollment increased by 32 percent, primarily due to an increase in non-degree seeking graduate students.
OSU-Cascades additionally serves 93 dually-admitted students taking all of their classes at Central Oregon Community College in preparation for transferring to OSU-Cascades.
The official fall enrollment represents a 15 percent increase in full-time equivalents as students increasingly take full-time course loads. About 73 percent of students are enrolled full-time, including students who are dually-enrolled at COCC.
The diversity of OSU-Cascades’ student body increased to 18 percent, with nearly half of all students identifying as Hispanic and more than a third identifying as representing two or more U.S. minorities. More than a third of undergraduate students identify as the first in their families to attend college.
More than 90 percent of students are from Oregon, with 70 percent coming from the Central Oregon region. Out-of-state students increased slightly from six to almost eight percent and represent California, Washington and 18 other states, as well as four countries.
The enrollment increase spread across majors, with the largest majors now reported as business administration, human development and family sciences, biology, natural resources, energy systems engineering and kinesiology. The recently launched computer science degree increased 37 percent, from 43 to 59 students this fall.
The average high school GPA of OSU-Cascades’ freshman class was 3.56, with nearly 40 percent having a GPA of 3.75 and above. Fifteen percent of the first-year students came to OSU-Cascades with sufficient college credit to enter at the sophomore or junior level. More than two-thirds earned college credit while in high school. All of OSU-Cascades’ first year students this fall are Oregonians, with 43 percent coming from Central Oregon and 23 percent from the greater Portland area.
The largest graduate program is the counseling degree program with 70 students. The Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing, now in its fourth year, has 20 enrolled students this fall. Growth in graduate student enrollment is attributed to new professional development course offerings for in-service teachers.
The percentage of female students is 55 percent. Women comprised about 70 percent of the student population through 2010. The average age of an OSU-Cascades student is 29. The youngest enrolled student is 17; the oldest is 77.
OSU-Cascades is also serving an additional 77 Central Oregon students who are taking all of their courses online through OSU’s Ecampus.
OSU-Cascades plans to grow to 3,000 to 5,000 students to serve state and regional education goals.
www.osucascades.edu
