The Office of Admissions last week released its preliminary fourth week enrollment report for the 2001-02 academic year, and the word “Oregon” seems to have become more prominent in the name University of Oregon.
Along with numbers in almost every other category, the number of Oregon residents enrolled at the University has increased for 2001-02. In 2000-01, 12,375 students were Oregon residents. This year, 13,470 students are residents.
Enrollment has reached a record number this year, with 19,091 students filling University classrooms, parking lots and libraries.
The most pronounced increase is in the number of freshmen out of high school, according to Martha Pitts, director of admissions. She said there are 2,998 freshmen this year — up 259 from last year. The mean high school GPA of the freshman class rose from 3.4 to 3.43 percent and the average combined SAT score was 1,104.
This year, 2,423 students identified themselves as “students of color” — African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latino, Native American and multi-ethnic — an increase of 139 students. But the growth of the students of color population did not keep pace with the overall growth of the University, Pitts said.
Complicating efforts to track the ethnic diversity on campus was an increase in the number of students declining to respond to the question of ethnic background. In 2000-01, 1,111 students declined to respond, while this year 1,260 students decided that they did not want to be classified by the University.
The number of transfer students decreased slightly, from 1,488 in 2000-01 to 1,441 this year.
Pitts also said women make up the majority of students, at 53 percent of the total population, and students are carrying a larger credit load than they were last year. The mean credit load is 14.08 for undergraduates and 12.04 for grad students.