Enrollment reaches all-time high at BGSU

[transfer2BGSU]

Enrollment reaches all-time high at BGSU

September 09, 2004

BOWLING GREEN, O.—A 3 percent increase in the number of students on the main campus has helped to boost enrollment at Bowling Green State University to 20,975 students this fall, the largest enrollment ever. Campus officials are crediting the growth in part to the availability of more scholarship dollars.

Fall figures show 3,929 students in BGSU’s freshman class, up from 3,557 last year, and 698 new transfer students, compared to 647 a year ago. The incoming class includes 67 high school valedictorians.

Enrollment also is up at BGSU Firelands College in Huron, where 1,986 students are taking classes this fall. That’s an 8.7 percent increase over last fall’s enrollment of 1,827.

BGSU Admissions Director Gary Swegan credits the jump in enrollment to University efforts to increase the pool of qualified applicants, provide outstanding programs and offer more scholarship aid.

“The combination of new programs, such as the BGeXperience values education program and our nationally recognized learning communities, coupled with the increasing the dollar amount of scholarships has given us the opportunity to see enrollment growth,” Swegan said.

Over the past five years, according to Student Financial Aid Director Craig Cornell, Bowling Green has more than doubled its commitment to institutional scholarships, “with even more expected when the new programs we’ve created are fully phased in.”

“Our percentage increases in scholarships annually continue to outpace tuition and fee increases,” Cornell pointed out. “For example, last year tuition and fees increased by almost 9 percent, while scholarship outlay went up by almost 24 percent.”

For incoming students in 2004, Bowling Green introduced new programs to provide more scholarship assistance, particularly for academic achievers and students with the most economic need.

Merit-based scholarships range from $1,500 to full fees and are renewable for as long as students continue to meet eligibility requirements. Faculty Achievement Scholarships, offered to students with a 3.5 or higher grade point average and an ACT score of 23 to 26, have increased from $500 to $1,500 each, and the President’s Achievement Scholarship, formerly offered in increments of $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000, has increased to $2,500.

University Professor Scholarships for incoming students with at least a 3.8 GPA and scores of 30 or above on the ACT or 1300 or above on the SAT, provide full fees, while The Falcon Soars Scholarship helps students with high needs and a 3.0 GPA by matching dollar for dollar their Ohio Instruction Grant, and he Orange and Brown Scholarship Grant awards an additional $1,000 to students with high needs who are also high academic achievers.

In addition, a Michigan Success tuition program encourages students to attend BGSU by enabling Michigan students with a grade point average of 3.0 and ACT score of 21 or higher to pay only 50 percent of the usual out-of-state surcharge.

That kind of financial aid, coupled with special academic opportunities, such as the University’s residential learning communities where students live and learn together in small group settings, and first-year success programs that help students adjust to campus life, are particularly attractive to prospective students, administrators say.

Swegan, who pointed out that entering students have higher ACT scores than those in the previous three years and that 13.4 percent of the students represent ethnic minorities, summed it up by describing this class as “bigger, better and more diverse.”

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/pr/news/2004/news6826.html

[bgsufan67]

As a freshman I am glad to be a part of the increase.

[Tricky_Falcon]

As a freshman I am glad to be a part of the increase.

Recruit as many high school buddies as you can and tell them to support bg athletics.

[Metz]

As a freshman I am glad to be a part of the increase.

Recruit as many high school buddies as you can and tell them to support bg athletics.

I second that! We need to get more fans in the stands!

[bgsufan67]

I already have a couple buddies who want to transfer from other colleges since I have told them about BG.

[Metz]

I already have a couple buddies who want to transfer from other colleges since I have told them about BG.

A couple is a start. We need A LOT more than that though! However, if everyone gets a couple of buddies to transfer, that'd boost the numbers up real fast.

[NWLB]

Also tell them to invite their parents down to BG for games!