University of Northern Iowa president, Bill Ruud, says he is encouraged by the recruiting efforts to get more students to enroll at the Cedar Falls school. “We are optimistic, we may not be at 34,000, be we are optimistic that we will experience an increase in our enrollment this fall,” Ruud says. Ruud’s mention of the 34,000 is in reference to the record enrollment seen at Iowa State University in Ames.
He told the Board of Regents at their meeting this week that there are signs of an uptick in students when classes resume. “We’ve had nearly 1,500 more visitors this year at our Panther open houses,” Ruud says. “And as of June 3rd, the number students applying to the University of Northern Iowa is up nearly 30-percent compared to last year. And the number of students admitted is up nearly 20-percent over last year. And we look forward to having more new students at orientations this summer and on campus this fall.”
Increasing enrollment has been a priority since Ruud took over in June of 2013. UNI’s fall enrollment in 2013 was up 359 students to 12,159.