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Incoming freshman class at Fort Lewis College increases 4.5 percent
The number of first time freshmen choosing Fort Lewis College increased 4.5 percent to 814 students this fall. Increased marketing and admission efforts over the past year contributed to an increase in new student applications of nearly 50 percent, which bode well for the new class.
“We are so pleased that more new freshmen have chosen Fort Lewis College this year,” says FLC President Dene Thomas. “We are getting the Fort Lewis College message out there better than we ever have before, and young people are responding. Thank you to our Marketing and Communications team and our Office of Admission staff for their hard work.”
Another point of good news is FLC’s retention rate, which measures the percentage of freshmen who stay after their first year. The percentage of freshmen retaining at FLC increased from 60 to 64 percent.
Looking at the makeup of the Fort Lewis College student body, the College continues to grow more diverse. Native American students increased 5.6 percent, while Hispanic students went up by 2.6 percent. The number of African American students also increased, and that group now represents 1.2 percent of the FLC student population, double the percentage for La Plata County (.6 percent) according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Overall enrollment at FLC is down about 2 percent to 3,692 for 2015. One reason for the overall decrease is a smaller group of continuing students. Transfer students were also lower this year, a ripple effect of lower enrollment at Colorado’s community colleges over the past few years.
The top three majors declared this year are business administration, which saw an enrollment increase of 5 percent to 415 majors; engineering, which increased over 8 percent to 245 majors; and psychology, up 4 percent to 234 majors.