Despite tuition increase, university sees growth in student enrollment

Undergraduates admitted to Wayne State in 2009 increased by 11 percent from 2008, despite the 5.4 percent raise in tuition, a report by Wayne’s admissions department said.
The report by Susan Zwieg, director of undergraduate admissions, compiles data on freshman students, community college transfer students and four-year college transfer students. The colleges of education;; engineering;; fine, performing and communication arts; and liberal arts all saw increases in applications received and in admits.
Business administration, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health and social work colleges all saw decreases.
“Enrollment went up every year since 2003, except for last year,” Zwieg said.
The report compared the statistics nine weeks before classes start this year — as of June 29 through July 3 — to nine weeks before classes started in 2008. The total at this time in 2008 was 15,811 students compared to 17,651 students this year.
“We’re up in enrollment of new students — both freshman and transfers,” Zwieg said.. “We don’t know if they will hold. We’re up about 7 percent for freshman both in applications and admits.,”
Earlier reports about WSU’s not comparing favorably with some area colleges, specifically Grand Valley State University, appear to be incorrect. According to its admission’s Web site, the fall 2008-09 headcount was 23,892, up from 23,464 the previous year. But the enrollment increase was still less than 2 percent.
Susan Kharireddine, 22, of Oakland University said she hopes to transfer closer to her home in Detroit but fears WSU may cost too much.
“If my financial aid doesn’t cover it, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to afford it,” Kharireddine.  “I’m not really sure if I’ll be able to buy books, and if I can’t, I pretty much won’t be able to go.”
Brooke McConnell, 16, of Macomb, who was visiting Wayne State along with her parents, said that Wayne State was more economical than the University of Detroit Mercy and Grand Valley, which she is also considering.
 “We’re just looking at them all right now, trying to weigh out all the options. One nice thing here is she can commute back and forth from home and save some money that way,” McConnell’s father, Bryan, said.