Connecticut Colleges Enjoy a Banner Year

Despite the falling economy, and with an emphasis on the need for skills in a competitive job market, this fall saw significant gains in enrollment in Connecticut's colleges and universities, the largest annual gains in 21 years. In fact, this year's gains fell just three percent short of the peak

The fall 2001 figures show 164,677 students attending the state's 46 public and independent institutions of higher learning - an increase of 2.5 percent over last year. This is the third year of consecutive growth after enrollment bottomed out at 154,029 in 1997.

Among this year's notable trends:

* Nearly half of the statewide growth is due to more students in the community college system.

* Both full-time and part-time enrollments are up for the first time since 1989.

* The share of students attending full-time is the highest in 20 years, making them the majority at public colleges, which enroll 63 percent of Connecticut college students.

"We are clearly seeing the return of the traditional, full-time college student, and that's good news for colleges and for our workforce," said Lewis, when presenting the annual figures to the Board of Governors for Higher Education.

Within the public sector, enrollment rose 2.7 percent at the University of Connecticut to 24,051. Contrary to undergraduate trends, UConn's graduate enrollment fell for a sixth consecutive year.

Within the Connecticut State University system, enrollment was up 1.5 percent to 35,877. With an increase of 3.7 percent or 192 students, Eastern posted the largest gain, with smaller increases at Central, Southern and Western. The 12 community colleges - the largest component of Connecticut's higher education system - recorded the largest percentage gain since 1989, with two-thirds of the increase due to growth at Gateway, Housatonic and Tunxis. Across these colleges, enrollment grew 4.5 percent to 42,642.

Within the independent sector, enrollment edged up 0.8 percent to 18,508 at the four-year nationals. Wesleyan posted a 2.5 percent gain and Connecticut College was up 1.2 percent while counts at Trinity and Yale were stable.

Across the 18 four-year regional independents - Connecticut's secondlargest sector - enrollment was up 1.6 percent or 638 students to 40,735. The largest numeric gains occurred at Sacred Heart, followed by Quinnipiac University and the University of Bridgeport.

Based on the latest census, one out of every 16 adults in Connecticut is a college student, virtually the same as 10 years ago, ranking below the national average of one in 13.