Spring 2016 enrollment at Mizzou lower than 5-year average between semesters

Semester

Opening Day Sudents Census Day (20th day) Fall 2010 32,009 32,415 Spring 2011 30,113 30,767 Fall 2011 33,318 33,805 Spring 2012 31,144 31,816 Fall 2012 34,255 34,748 Spring 2013 31,641 32,563 Fall 2013 34,111 34,658 Spring 2014 32,060 32,738 Fall 2014 34,935 35,441 Spring 2015 32,588 33,263 Fall 2015 35,050 35,448 Spring 2016 32,525 Available 2/16

On Tuesday, ABC 17 News reported that spring enrollment at the University of Missouri is down from fall enrollment by a larger number as compared to a 5-year average.

MU officials took a snap shot of the numbers on the first day or opening day, and the official enrollment numbers come in more than two weeks later. During that time a lot can change.

With the spring semester underway, MU enrollment numbers are becoming more clear.

Officials said right now they are seeing a steady enrollment.

“One of the things we do try to look at is opening day spring to opening day spring of the previous year. When we did that this year, we noticed that actually our enrollment is very stable.”

Spring opening day numbers over the past two years look almost identical.

In 2015, 25,186 undergraduate students were enrolled at MU, and this year about 70 more.

MU officials said these numbers will change.

“Opening day numbers typically go up in the first week or two and will until the 20th day of classes before we take our official picture.”

But when comparing opening day enrollment from last fall to this spring, there’s been a noticeable drop of more than 2500 students compared to other fall to spring opening day enrollment periods.

Officials expect that drop to narrow as more students enroll over the next few weeks.

An exact reason for the drop is hard to pin down, but the unrest on campus last fall and issues graduate students have raise might play into it.

“It’s definitely on the minds of many of the administrators here, and many of the admissions folks here, and it is something that we have continued to talk about.”

One number MU officials said is promising is the increase in campus diversity.

From opening day of spring 2015 to this year, minority enrollment is up just over 100, which is an increase of two percent.

The final enrollment numbers are expected mid-February.