The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has reached its
longstanding enrollment goal of 1,500 full-time equivalent students
and also shattered previous enrollment records, including having
its largest student body and biggest freshman class.

The enrollment figures became official today in a report
submitted to the University of Pittsburgh.

“This is a magnificent accomplishment for our campus and for our
region,” Dr. Livingston Alexander, president, said of reaching the
1,500 full-time equivalent students goal. “We’re very proud that we
were able to reach this milestone three years in advance of our
projected time frame.”

Full-time equivalent is a measurement used by colleges and
universities that serve both full- and part-time students. The
measurement allows administrators to better plan and budget for the
demands placed on the faculty and student services.

This year, the campus has 1,535 full-time equivalent students, a
10.2 percent increase over last fall’s 1,398. The university also
has recorded the largest total enrollment in its history at 1,657
students – 1,455 full-time and 202 part-time – and its biggest
freshman class of 418 freshmen, an increase of 11 percent over the
377-member freshman class last fall.

Also contributing to the enrollment success was a slight
increase in the freshman-to-sophomore retention rate to 73.4
percent, the fourth year in a row that that number has
increased.

This is the fourth year in a row that Pitt-Bradford has
shattered enrollment records, growing from 1,124 full-time
equivalent students in the fall of 2005.

Alexander cited several factors that account for the recent
rapid growth, including a five-year strategic plan implemented in
2004 that established enrollment growth as the priority. He also
pointed to 12 new baccalaureate majors added in the last five years
and major improvements to campus facilities over the last
decade.

Students are also coming from a wider geographic area. The class
of 2013 has students from four foreign countries, Washington, D.C.,
U.S. territories and 12 states: Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland,
Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey,
New Hampshire and Virginia.

The most popular majors for freshmen are nursing, criminal
justice, athletic training, elementary education, biology and
business management.

“We are grateful to our admissions staff that has been working
very aggressively and farther afield to help us reach and surpass
our enrollment goals,” Alexander said. “Additionally, we are
fortunate to have dedicated faculty and staff who are also
committed to helping Pitt-Bradford and its students succeed.”

The mix of students is also favoring more traditional students,
said James Baldwin, assistant dean of academic affairs and director
of enrollment services.

“Six or seven years ago, nearly 30 percent of our students were
nontraditional students,” he said. “Now that’s about 20
percent.”

According to Alexander, with the achievement of this milestone,
the campus’s physical plant is at capacity. Aggressive recruitment
and marketing will continue, he said, but primarily to enable the
campus to sustain its enrollment numbers.

“It is possible that we may not be able to accommodate all of
the students who apply in future years. We may have to resort to
waiting lists,” Alexander said of future enrollments. Whether more
space is required will continue to be assessed, he added.

For now, a new residence hall is planned to open sometime in the
fall of 2010, which will allow the university to house an
additional 103 students. Currently, the campus has about 800 beds
available.

Alexander said the current strategic plan calls for additional
faculty and improvements in classroom and laboratory space,
beginning with the renovation of Fisher Hall, the campus’s science
building.

Dr. K. James Evans, dean of student affairs, has been involved
with the effort to reach 1,500 full-time equivalent students since
the University of Pittsburgh assigned the enrollment target to the
campus in the early 1990s.

The college used that assigned enrollment target as a guide to
create a master plan to accommodate 1,500 full-time equivalent
students.

Under the master plan, the Sport and Fitness Center was
renovated and expanded in 2002; the Frame-Westerberg Commons,
renovated and expanded in 2003; Blaisdell Hall, home to
communications and fine arts, completed in 2004; two new residence
halls, completed in 2005 and 2008; and an interfaith chapel will be
completed in 2010.

“When students and parents visit,” said Alexander Nazemetz,
director of admissions, “their first impression of the campus is
always positive. It pulls them in and gets them asking questions
about other things.”

Nazemetz said that persuading students to enroll at
Pitt-Bradford is easier now than before because of the name
recognition and higher visibility.

Thanks to a targeted marketing and branding program that works
in tandem with admissions, “people recognize Pitt-Bradford as a
destination unto itself,” he said. “Admissions counselors help
spread the word, but the word is already there.”

Admissions counselors visit 300 schools each year, and one thing
they’re finding is that students who attend Pitt-Bradford are going
home and speaking positively about the school.

“Success breeds success,” Nazemetz said.

Other factors he cited are admissions’ use of geodemographics to
determine where students come from and who are the best fit for
Pitt-Bradford.

“Admissions is definitely recruiting smarter,” he said, “We can
concentrate on areas where we know we will have success, and I am
really grateful for a professional staff that goes out of its way
to work for university goals and overall enrollments.”