UM Spring Enrollment Numbers Released, Continue To Trend Downward

The University of Montana recently released its official spring enrollment count for the semester. UM Director of Communications Paula Short says the enrollment reduction trend continued, but that was expected.

“11,615 students which includes a little over 10,000 on the mountain campus and the remainder being at our Missoula College,” said Short. “According to Vice President for enrollment Tom Crady, it was not as steep of a decline as could have been based on trending and certainly within what we think is going to happen. It is going to take a few years, but we will stabilize and be growing enrollment.”

Short says that she is starting to learn that improving enrollment is not a quick fix.

“It’s like a long ship, it doesn’t turn on a dime and it’s going to take a little bit of time to stabilize and reverse this trend, but we are feeling good about the steps that we are taking and the new initiatives that are in place,” Short said. “The President likes to say we have planted some seeds and they haven’t yielded a crop yet, but we are looking forward to that.”

According to Short, spring enrollment numbers are almost always less than the fall because many students graduate in December.