From left, Deannie Starnes and her son, Carter, and daughter, Allie, begin unpacking Carter’s belongings in his room at Scott Residence Hall. Photo courtesy of WCU Office of Public Relations.
Classes started today, Aug. 17, and it looks like another year of record enrollment at the Western Carolina University, according to the information from WCU Office of Public Relations.
The official student headcount will be an unknown until the 10th class day Friday, Aug. 28, which is “census day” as specified by the University of North Carolina General Administration. Current indicators point to the possibility of another all-time high for WCU’s total enrollment, said Phil Cauley, the university’s director of student recruitment.
The upward trend in enrollment began in 2012, when 9,608 students attended WCU, followed by 10,107 in 2013 and 10,382 last year.
“Stronger retention rates in the large entering first-year classes in recent years, solid transfer numbers and healthy distance learning registrations could add up to another total record enrollment,” Cauley said.
Last year’s freshman class at WCU exceeded expectations at 1,745 students, the largest class of first-year students since an enrollment boom of the post-Vietnam mid-1970s, Cauley said.
“While this fall’s entering first-year class will not challenge last year’s total, the fall 2015 entering class is expected to be the second- or third-largest entering class since the 1970s,” he said.
The students can enjoy the Week of Welcome, a series of events for new and returning students that goes through Monday, Aug. 24. Today you can enjoy another women’s soccer exhibition game, Aug. 17; the seventh annual Student Employment Fair and an intramural cornhole tournament Tuesday, Aug. 18; the “Are You Seeing Red?” Information Fair and a free concert by Tim Montana and the Shrednecks on Wednesday, Aug. 19; an Honors College cookout and Intercultural Fusion event Thursday, Aug. 20; an intramural sand volleyball tournament and more women’s soccer Friday, Aug. 21; and a swimming hole hike and “Meet the Cats” event Saturday, Aug. 22. WCU’s big welcome-back event for all students, Valley Ballyhoo, was on Saturday, Aug. 15, on the Central Plaza. More information about Week of Welcome events is posted at WOW 2015.
See more photos from 2015 Move-in-day at WCU Flicker.
Story provided by WCU Office of Public Relations.
