Bill Ruud  (UNI photo)

Bill Ruud (UNI photo)

University of Northern Iowa president Bill Ruud says the effort to push up enrollment on the Cedar Falls campus continues to see positive results.

“If you go back to 2013, our freshman class was 1,722. We are estimating a freshman class this fall of 2,000 or more,” Ruud says. Ruud says enrollment has increased for the freshman class by 16 percent in four years.

“We turned the corner last year and increased enrollment for the first time in five years — with a net growth of 53 — total growth of new students of 265,” according to Ruud. He says to see the such success in growth is phenomenal.

“Over the last 15 years the overall enrollment at the University of Northern Iowa has not increased more than 2.6 percent in any one year,” Ruud says. “So to grow 16 percent in our freshman class — the challenge again is on us to continue that and have another two-thousand in subsequent freshman classes over the years.”

Ruud made his comments at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday.