The number of freshmen attending Ball State University this fall hasn’t changed much from last year, but minority freshman enrollment has increased slightly, university administrators said.
Freshman enrollment this year reached 3,347, which is 17 fewer than last year. The number of incoming minority freshmen this year, however, is 293 — an increase of 41 students compared to last year.
Tom Taylor, vice president of marketing, communications and enrollment management, said the university is striving to increase diversity through recruitment efforts.
“When we say diversity, I think we can talk about it in lots of terms — ethnic, cultural, geographic [and] diversity in academic interests,” Taylor said.
This fall, Ball State has 15,903 undergraduates. About 4.4 percent are black, while Hispanics make up 1 percent, and Asians make up less than 1 percent of the student body.
Last year, Ball State had 16,350 undergraduate students, 6 percent of whom were black, according to the National Center for Education Statistics and The Carnegie Foundation. Hispanics and Asians were each one percent.
The university’s goal each year for minority student enrollment is 10 percent, admissions officials said last spring.
Ball State collaborates with organizations such as 100 Black Men of America Inc. and the National Urban League, which work to enhance educational and economic opportunities for blacks. Early outreach programs, such as the Multicultural Center’s EXCEL Program, also strive to attract students of all ethnicities.
Freshman Loren Ray, a psychology major, said he heard about the EXCEL program by word of mouth. The program, which has helped to bring together minorities on campus, is striving to get its name out to more people, he said.
“There’s not many minorities on campus — it gives the few that are a chance to meet and bond,” Ray said. “The chance to see more familiar faces is a very comforting experience.
“The ones that are on campus are pretty focused and goal-oriented — it’s always a good thing to be surrounded by quality instead of quantity.”
The EXCEL program has introduced students to key resources such as Greek organizations, the Black Student Association and Today’s Black Women, Ray said. He said promoting diversity on campus overall should be a continual goal.
“You should always have diversity,” Ray said. “That’s how the real world is. Although Ball State doesn’t have as much as other colleges might, I felt this college was preparing me for the business world because of its demographics, for lack of a better word.”
TRANSFER, OUT-OF-STATE AND GRAD STUDENTS
The number of Ball State’s transfer students has increased slightly from last year, although the number of first-time graduate students this fall is the lowest it has been in the past five years, university administrators said.
About 730 students transferred to the university this fall -- 31 more than last year, Taylor said.
“It’s relatively small, but certainly transfer students are an important part of enrollment,” he said.
Graduate students this fall reached 547, compared with 635 last year.
Taylor, who just came from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said his former university experienced several years of increase in graduate student enrollment after creating new certificate programs. He said he will also work to improve enrollment in Ball State’s graduate program.
“We’ll be looking at where we are and where we want to be as far as graduate enrollment as well as undergraduate enrollment,” Taylor said.
Administrators also said Ball State has more out-of-state students this year than it has had in the past five years, with 1,858 students this fall. Most of these students often come from neighboring states such as Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.
About 55 percent of the undergraduate population is made up of women this year, with 45 percent of the population being male.
Last year, administrators said that students throughout the nation were applying to fewer schools than they had in the past.
This year, however, students are looking further out and keeping their options open, Taylor said.
“It’s always a complex process whereby a student makes a decision as to where they actually enroll,” he said. “There are a variety of factors that students consider in terms of the fit of the academic program, the feel of the campus and the cost.”
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