Ferris recently announced student enrollment is at a record high with 14,715 students enrolled this academic year, a 259 student increase from last year.
“I’m very proud of our university, our university community and everyone who makes Ferris such a welcoming place,” said President David Eisler in a statement.
According to Janine Ward-Roof, vice president of student affairs, the increase in enrollment is due to an increase in student recruitment, both on campus and internationally. The new University Center has also helped increase enrollment.
“We want to get students to campus, so a lot of effort has gone into recruiting general admission and financial aid with technology outreach,” Ward-Roof said. “We have been able to put more financial aid resources into the mix and that has been helpful to students. We want to allow students the opportunity to come here and grow.”
Ward-Roof also said when former students did not re-enroll, admissions staff reached out to them this year about returning to campus.
“We did a lot of personal outreach just to say that we want to help them complete their programs,” Ward-Roof said. “The University Center has also made a huge impact for how we provide engagement opportunities in conjunction with student organizations and things you can do there. The library, residence halls and everyone have been involved in engagement with students.”
Piram Prakasam, executive director of the Office of International Education, said office faculty are seeing the most diverse group of students they’ve ever had at Ferris because they recruited so many students.
“We have students from 43 different countries, such as China, Barbados, India and Germany,” Prakasam said. “The variety we have is significant. We used a lot of electronic recruiting to international students, and we help international students through the process of coming to Ferris.”
According to Prakasam, five years ago, they had around 150 international students. Now, the Office of International Education oversees 530 students.
“Ferris is an attractive option for students because we are an accredited state institution,” Prakasam said. “We offer hands-on programs which students really enjoy. We make our students feel very welcomed so that plays a significant role in students making the decision to come to Ferris.”
“It’s wonderful that the enrollment numbers are up,” Ward-Roof said. “We want to help students find their path and their way in life, so any way that we can make that happen, we will.”