Bemidji State University announces fall 2013 enrollment

Nearly 5,000 students are pursuing higher education at Bemidji State University this year according to enrollment numbers for the 30th day of fall classes, announced today by university officials.

Bemidji State’s total head-count enrollment for fall 2013 is 4,952, down 65 students, or 1.3 percent, from the university’s fall 2012 30th-day enrollment total.

Full-time equivalent enrollment (4,090, down 0.7 percent) and total credits generated, which plays a more critical role in the University’s budget than headcount, (60,816, down 0.6 percent) also have declined slightly as compared to 30th-day numbers from a year ago.

Bemidji State’s incoming freshman class totals 830, a 9.5-percent increase from last year. It is the fourth time in the last five years BSU had welcomed an 800-member freshman class to campus for the fall semester.

Nearly 37 percent of BSU’s 830 freshmen received an automatic merit-based scholarship from the Office of Admissions or BSU Foundation at the time they enrolled.

Online credits continue to play an increasingly important role in student life, even for on-campus students. While less than five percent of credits taken by on-campus undergraduate students come from online courses, the number of those students who are taking at least one online course has grown to 597 — a 13-percent increase from last year.

Bemidji State University announces fall enrollment figures on the 30th day of classes to coincide with official system-wide enrollment numbers generated by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Reporting on the 30th day allows sufficient time for students to drop or add courses and to pay tuition.

Head count reflects an unduplicated number of students enrolled in credit-generating courses on campus and through external study areas such as distance learning.