UCF sees enrollment uptick for fall semester

The University of Central Florida is expecting a slight uptick in enrollment this fall, partly because the school admitted more traditional freshmen, even as some colleges are bracing for smaller numbers because the coronavirus pandemic has pushed many classes online and kept students home for fear of catching the virus.

Boosted by a “very large” freshman class, UCF leaders expect an increase of more than 2% in both student numbers and credit hours this fall. In-person classes are to resume on Monday for the first time since mid-March. Paige Borden, associate provost of academic program quality and associate vice president of institutional knowledge management, said as of Monday, 66,702 students had enrolled for the fall semester, compared with 65,356 at this point last year.

“In order to make sure we met our goals, we actually opened the class up a little bit and we accepted a broader number of students — the idea being, students who were accepted out of state or at one of our other institutions across the state might’ve chosen to stay closer to home,” Borden said. “And by opening that door up, it turns out more students have selected the option to attend UCF.”

As a result, Borden said, the university saw “slight drops” in the college entrance exam scores of entering freshmen, but they posted, on average, better GPAs than last year’s class did.

Additionally, more than 92% of last year’s freshmen have reenrolled this semester, compared with 91.5% last year, Borden said.

Transfer students, however, were a different story, with 4,653 enrolling this year compared with 5,311 at this point last year.

Some colleges are anticipating declining enrollment this fall. Florida A&M University leaders, for example, said last week they fear a drop of 10%, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The paper reported nearby Florida State University, however, is expecting its student numbers to increase over last year’s. UCF students will take just 10% of their credit hours in-person this year, down from 70% last year. About three-quarters of UCF’s classes will be online-only this fall and less than a third of students will have an in-person class this semester.

Though many students won’t have any face-to-face classes this semester, thousands have moved back to campus during the last two weeks. Roughly 6,400 students will live on-campus this semester, about 84% of the school’s maximum occupancy. More than 500 double-bed rooms have been converted into singles to encourage social distancing and other rooms have been reserved for students who test positive for the virus and need to quarantine.

The school is testing every student living on-campus upon arrival. Almost 70% of students who plan to live on-campus this semester have moved in, said Maribeth Ehasz, vice president of student development and enrollment services.

Less than 3% have tested positive, a rate that’s comparable with other institutions, UCF President Alexander Cartwright said. Many students who have tested positive have decided to quarantine at home, she said, but the university is providing space for residents who need to stay on-campus.