When the enrollment period for the fall semester at Cameron University officially closed recently, interim president Jari Askins had reason to smile. She had just received word that enrollment at the Lawton university was up in almost every category.
CU enrollment has now increased during four of the last five semesters.
The fall report showed that Cameron’s enrollment sits at 3,700 students. That number is up nearly 4 percent from the Fall 2023 when 3,561 students enrolled. The current enrollment includes 488 members of CU’s freshman class – a significant increase of 7.25 percent from the previous fall.
Undergraduate student enrollment for the fall semester increased slightly more than 2 percent, to 3,319 students. Graduate student enrollment hit 381 students – a massive 23.3 percent increase.
“The efforts of Cameron University staff and faculty to attract and retain students continue to improve enrollment numbers,” Askins said. “The quest for more college graduates in southwest Oklahoma begins with more students taking classes from the Lawton and Duncan campuses. From high school concurrent students to undergraduates to graduate students, Cameron University is trending upward.”
Concurrent enrollment – meaning teenagers who are simultaneously enrolled in both high school and college classes in order to get a head start on earning a college degree – jumped 14.6 percent from the previous year. This fall, nearly 800 high school students are enrolled in Cameron coursework.
Other areas in which CU experienced increases include 235 first-time transfer students, up nearly 12.5 percent, and 37,346 total course hours taken, an increase of 1.6 percent from the same time a year ago.
Colleges and universities across the nation, including Oklahoma, had experienced declines in enrollment between 2015 and 2020, and the trend only increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Higher education experts hope that recent increases in enrollment are a sign that student pursuit of a college degree is returning to pre-pandemic normality.
Cameron continues to offer traditional, online, ITV and hybrid class formats, with 15 degree programs that can be completed entirely online. Enrollment for the Spring 2025 semester will open on October 25.
For information about attending Cameron University, contact the Office of Admissions at 580-581-2289 or via email at admissions@cameron.edu.
###
PR# #24
