University of Missouri administrators released official enrollment numbers Friday that confirm the largest student body in the school's 175-year history.
With 35,441 students enrolled for the fall 2014 semester, MU's student body has grown by 2.3 percent since last year and 31 percent in the last decade. MU News Bureau Associate Director Christian Basi believes an aggressive recruiting strategy has helped the student body continue to grow.
“Our enrollment growth is due not only to aggressive recruiting obviously in the state of Missouri, but also to looking at markets outside the state," he said.
The university's added emphasis on people outside the state has allowed them to attract a record number of minority students this year. With a 5.6 percent growth since last year, the recruitment team hopes to see that total continue to rise as they look toward cities with diverse populations in Dallas, Chicago, Denver and Minneapolis.
While the student body has grown significantly, they pale in comparison to the growth of MU's online-only enrollment, which has increased 18 percent in the past year. In addition to full-time online students, increased enrollment numbers can also be attributed to MU students who are taking classes on campus, but may not be able to enroll in a particular course unless they take it online.
“Obviously with technology changing at such a rapid pace, we are able to take advantage of more and different technologies that allow our students to engage in learning activities without having to be in the classroom," Basi said.