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IWU Has Record Enrollment; Plans New Residence Halls
October 5, 2004 A day after Indiana Wesleyan University reported a record enrollment for the 17th consecutive year, IWU trustees approved two - and possibly three - new buildings to house more students a year from now. A record 11,412 students are enrolled for fall semester classes in IWU's three colleges. That's an increase of 11 percent from last year's enrollment of 10,154. More students also are living on campus, 2,055 this year compared to 1,920 a year ago. The increase in overall enrollment and resident students was made possible by a new 210-bed women's residence hall that opened in September. Both of those trends should continue, as a result of action taken by IWU trustees on Friday. The board voted to build as many as three 80-bed residence halls for upperclass students. Construction will begin this spring, and the buildings are to be completed by September 2005. The buildings, which IWU officials are calling lodges, will feature suites designed to house four to six students each. Each suite will have a kitchen and a small living area. Each building will have a communal space with a game room, a television and fireplace. The lodges will be built on the east side of campus, where IWU's maintenance facility now is located. The maintenance department will be relocated to the former University Plaza, which IWU bought a year ago. The building currently is undergoing a major renovation. In the past decade, the balance of traditional students attending classes on IWU's Marion campus has shifted from commuter to residential. In 1994, half of IWU's traditional students lived on campus compared to 77 percent this year. Enrollment on the Marion campus for the 2004-05 academic year stands at 2,653 - an increase of almost 6 percent from a year ago. That includes a record 707 freshmen and 130 transfer students, compared to 654 freshmen and 110 transfer students in 2003. For the second consecutive year, the freshman class has a grade-point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Here is a two-year comparison of fall semester enrollment for IWU's three colleges:
Adult and Professional Studies students attend classes at sites in about 70 Indiana cities, including IWU education centers in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Kokomo and Columbus. IWU also has campuses in Louisville, Ky., and Cleveland, Ohio, and will open new buildings Oct. 18 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Shelbyville, Ind. The IWU trustees, during their semi-annual meeting last week, also approved the purchase of a building in Dayton, Ohio, where IWU will begin offering classes next spring. |
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