The Michigan Times

This fall semester has been a record setter for UM-Flint, which saw an overall increase in student enrollment of 5.5%, going from 6,883 students in the Fall 2007 to 7,260 students this semester, based on the 10th day enrollment.

According to a press release sent by University administrators Sept. 11, the U saw a 6% increase in transfer students, a 9.9% increase in dually enrolled students, a 4.3% increase in graduate students and a 24% increase in international students.

"We have nearly 400 new students attending the University of Michigan-Flint," said Chancellor Ruth Person in the release. "This substantial enrollment growth reaffirms the University of Michigan-Flint’s sterling reputation of providing an excellent educational experience."

While there is no single reason for the historic increase in enrollment this semester as opposed to past semesters, the new dorms were certainly a factor.

"Both the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Office of Graduate Programs had aggressive recruitment planning that strongly contributed to the strong increase in our student population," Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jack Kay said. "We have new degree programs which meet the career goals of our students. And our new residence hall was an attractive option for many students who wanted a traditional campus experience."

The residence hall also gave over 300 students the opportunity to study at the University, who would otherwise have had no way of doing so, greatly increasing the inter-state and international student populations here.

"This is an exciting time at the University of Michigan-Flint as our campus grows to meet the needs of the knowledge economy," Person said.

"Our recruitment activities for the class of Fall 2009 are well under way, and we are all working together to meet our campus goal of 8,000 students by 2010."