CHICAGO, IL (October 8, 2007) \u2013 North Park University again reached a record undergraduate enrollment for the 2007-2008 academic year while also attracting students with higher academic achievement levels, says Mark Olson, dean of enrollment and director of church relations.<\/p>\n
Enrollment rose six percent to 1,854 students over last year\u2019s record of 1,743, Olson says. New students numbered 590, including 373 first-year and 217 transfer students. Covenant undergraduate enrollment inched up to 478 students, the highest in decades.<\/p>\n
The academic level has risen a full ACT point since 2003, with an average score of 22.5, Olson reports. The average SAT score is 1107.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Park is now two full years ahead of where we anticipated being when we re-structured our tuition, scholarships and financial aid program three years ago,\u201d Olson says.<\/p>\n
The increase in enrollment was felt in other university programs, as well:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Non-traditional undergraduate enrollment, which includes adult degree completion programs, jumped 27 percent to a record 418 students.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Seminary enrollment remained steady at 288 students, with 64 students beginning studies, up from 50 a year ago. Graduate enrollment remained inched up to a record 691 students.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A total of 3,251 students are enrolled through a North Park program, which is up six percent from 3,051 from last year, Olson says.<\/p>\n
The school will continue to aggressively expand its recruiting, which Olson says has helped lead to the continued enrollment increase. \u201cThis year we have representatives at a record 105 college fairs around the country, which is in addition to routine high school fairs that we do in Illinois, Minnesota and Washington, where we have part-time staff working with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, the school has become more competitive. \u201cOne of the indicators of quality is the percentage of applicants that a school accepts,\u201d Olson says. That rate dropped from 70 percent in 2006 to 67 percent this year, the lowest in school history. At the same time, applications surged 12 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clearly a more competitive environment, both for students and for colleges and universities, as more students are applying to more schools, making it harder to predict eventual enrollment,\u201d Olson says.<\/p>\n
Olson says he wants to further increase the enrollment of Covenant students. \u201cMany of them know little or nothing about us, and I believe that if they did, a significant number of them and their parents would take a serious look at the North Park educational experience.\u201d The school continues to pursue these potential students aggressively, he adds.<\/p>\n
Olson adds he is pleased to see an increase in the percentage of males who choose North Park. \u201cThe percentage of males in college has been slipping for higher education in general, and we saw a swing of five percent more males in this new class, increasing to 41 percent, just under the national average for all schools.\u201d<\/p>\n