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UNO sees slight increase in enrollment

By Cheril Lee

Omaha, NE – UNO's enrollment increased .3% this year overall.

BJ Reed is the Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs. Reed says the number of incoming freshmen is on par with last year, while the numbers of minority students and incoming graduate students has increased. He says he's happy with the numbers since there were several one-time events that put some downward pressure on enrollment numbers.

For example, Reed says many of the Dana College students who transferred to UNO are now gone. The loss of football and wrestling scholarships also affected enrollment. Reed says the most important thing, though, is that UNO is graduating high numbers of undergraduate and graduate students.

"The quality of the faculty has really grown. The doctoral ranking that we have with the Carnegie Foundation reflects the quality of the faculty. The fact that we have doctoral programs now that we didn't use to have factors in and I think we are getting more students where UNO is their first choice. Additionally, we have more residence halls on campus where students can stay."

In August, the university held its first Freshmen Convocation. The event is designed to welcome the university's students and encourage them to finish their degree in four years.