Enrollment at USD rose 3.51 percent this fall, according to a report released Thursday by the South Dakota Board of Regents.
President James Abbott said that while he thinks USD’s enrollment numbers are good, but there is always room for improvement.
“Would I like to do better? Yeah, I would,” Abbott said. “I think you need a certain number of students to have a really vibrant campus.”
The increase in enrollment is calculated as a gain relative to the institutions enrollment numbers for the previous year. While the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology had the largest percentage jump in enrollment numbers relative to the previous year, South Dakota State University is the South Dakota public university with the highest headcount.
When calculating enrollment, two different metrics are used: Total headcount being the number of students enrolled at the university in any capacity, and full time equivalent based on the amount of credits a student takes.
USD’s headcount jumped up 326 students, to put USD at 9,617 total students.
New facilities, Abbott said, will play a part in attracting new students to the university. With the facilities being built, the university could expand to accommodate an 11,000-student headcount, Abbott said.
“Students want nice facilities. They don’t just want them, they demand them, and you know what? They should have them,” Abbott said.
Freshman Peter Olson said the addition of the Muenster University Center played a part in his decision to attend USD.
“When I first (toured the MUC) wasn’t done so I was kinda iffy about coming here because it did look like there was a lot of construction going on, but once I saw it finished it definitely factored into (my decision),” Olson said.
Abbott said one of the university’s stated goals is to net 1,200 first-time, full-time freshmen, with half scoring 24 and above on the ACT.
How to attract those freshmen is being addressed in a number of ways: Transitioning to Division I athletics, expansion of bachelor’s degree programs, expanded facilities and a new advertising campaign headed by Sioux Falls advertising firm Lawrence and Schiller.
But for some students, like freshman Pele Stewart, billboards and D-I athletics take a back seat to family tradition and word of mouth.
“My brother and my dad both came here,” Stewart said. “A lot of it was just family recommendation and I had talked to some other people who went here as well, and they gave me some high recommendations.”
For freshman Patrick Linsenmeyer, a combination of price, amount of scholarships offered and the MUC were all factors that influenced his decision to attend USD.
Although Abbott said he was slightly disappointed with the amount of full time freshmen this year, he is confident about next year’s enrollment, and predicts an even larger increase both in first-time full-time freshmen and the overall head count.
“I won’t be surprised if we break 10,000 (students) next year,” Abbott said.
Reach reporter Nolan Peterson at Nolan.H.Peterson@usd.edu.
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