A University spokesperson announced Thursday afternoon enrollment dropped this year.

The total enrollment for this fall dropped to 6,074 students, that’s down 3.5 percent compared with last years record-high enrollment.

Despite the decline, this years fall enrollment is the third-highest for the University.  Last year was the highest with 6.297 students enrolled for classes.

“We’ve been anticipating a decline for a couple of years now because of smaller high school graduating classes in Missouri,” said Dr. Jeanne Daffron, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “The overall numbers aren’t what we hoped, but we are pleased with our continued growth in international students, graduate education and online education, including students taking only online courses.”

Looking more into the numbers, 52 international students enrolled this year, a 21 percent increase from last year.  171 graduate students are enrolled, that’s 6.2 percent higher than last year.

This year the university is offering more than 200 online courses.  Enrollment for online courses went up 15 percent.
The reduced enrollment marks the end of eight consecutive years of enrollment growth at Missouri Western, including record enrollments each of the last seven years. From fall 2003 to fall 2011, enrollment grew 27 percent.