Increase of 3.34 percent over Fall 2014

The official enrollment for Fall 2015 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is 16,699, an increase of 3.34 percent over Fall 2014. Students are enrolled in 176,199.5 credit hours, which is an increase of 1.94 percent.

This year’s first-time college student (FTC) entering class continues to demonstrate the diversity for which UMKC is well-known. This year’s freshmen are 10 percent Asian, 1 percent Underrepresented Asian, 12 percent African American, 11 percent Hispanic/Latino, 7 percent Two or more races, 5 percent International, and 54 percent White.

UMKC also saw a 4.49 percent increase in the number of transfer students enrolled.

“The increase in the number of new transfer students suggest that we are successful in growing our relationships with the community colleges and increasing our transfer population while the enrollment at our major transfer sources, such as Metropolitan Community College and Johnson County Community College, is declining,” said Mel Tyler, vice chancellor of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. “This is another sign that we are increasing our market share with these students.”

UMKC’s enrollment growth comes at a time when the overall population of college-age people in the region has been declining for the past five years, and is forecast to continue downward for a few more years before returning to a growth pattern.

UMKC’s overall retention rate for the Fall 2014 FTC class – the percentage of those students who returned to the school for a second year – is 74.8 percent, a 1.9 percentage point increase over the Fall 2013 figure. Another positive sign is the retention rate for FTC African American students, is up 6.3 percentage points, with 72.5 percent returning this fall.

The 6-year graduation rate for the Fall 2009 FTC class is 50.1 percent, which is 1.9 percentage points lower than Fall 2008. However, the 2009 class shows a 9.9 percentage point graduation rate increase for African American and Hispanic/Latino students. In addition, the graduation rate for Fall 2009 new transfer students increased to 62.8 percent, 0.7 percentage points higher than the Fall 2008 group.

According to Tyler, UMKC had a significant increase in the actual number of overall graduates in Spring 2015, a 7.4 percent increase over the total number of students who graduated in Spring 2014.

“Our retention efforts have yielded positive outcomes, which will be reflected in our graduation rates in the future,” said Tyler. “Retention is a top priority for UMKC, and we are pleased to see growth in student retention even though we have to continue our efforts to increase the enrollment numbers.”