WSUV fall enrollment 3,062; freshman class biggest ever

Fall enrollment at Washington State University Vancouver was reported at 3,062 Wednesday, including a freshman milestone for the Salmon Creek campus.

It marked a 2.75 percent increase from the fall 2012 enrollment of 2,980.

The fall freshman class of 236 is the biggest ever, said Brenda Alling, WSUV spokeswoman.

Most of the freshmen are from Clark County high schools, Alling said. WSUV made the transition to a four-year campus in 2006.

It’s also a freshman class that’s academically strong, as well as more diverse, said Nancy Youlden, vice chancellor for student affairs.

Students coming from other colleges increased, too.

“We had an increase in transfers, from 573 last year to 625,” Youlden said.

The biggest share of transfers are home-town students who took their first two years at Clark College. Lower Columbia College in Longview also was a significant source of transfer students.

While people tend to think of transferring as a junior-class proposition, “we do get a number of sophomore transfers: people who started at another four-year school and wanted to come home,” Youlden said.

The 2013 fall enrollment isn’t the biggest ever, Alling said. WSUV reached 3,100 a few years ago, then hit a slight downward trend as tuition soared. Tuition did not increase this year.