Huntington University reports record spring enrollment

HUNTINGTON, Ind.- Huntington University marked its second consecutive record-breaking enrollment this spring with a 1 percent increase in the traditional undergraduate student body.

For the spring 2011 semester, 982 students enrolled in one of the more than 60 undergraduate academic programs available on campus. That number surpasses the previous 2010 record of 974 students. The university has been steadily growing over the past few years despite the current economic conditions. Since 2008, there has been a 14 percent increase in the spring enrollment.

"Huntington University is pleased that even with some challenging economic conditions still in play that we have been able to maintain record enrollment in our traditional undergraduate programs," said Jeff Berggren, vice president for enrollment management and marketing. "The current financial climate has encouraged our campus to focus more resources to support the successes of our students, which, in turn, has increased our freshmen-to-sophomore retention rate by 2 percent and produced our record spring enrollment."

The university also reported promising graduate enrollment numbers, despite the loss of the ministry leadership program in June. While the graduate school saw a drop of 11 students, the programs have grown by 15 percent in the last four years, particularly in the counseling program. HU offers graduate degrees in education, youth ministry leadership and counseling.

Enrollment in the EXCEL Adult Degree Program has held steady over the past three years, and while the overall HU enrollment is down by two students from last year's record total, it shows healthy growth when compared to 2008, according to Berggren.