VALPARAISO — A Valparaiso University official credits the overall quality of the school for continuing to attract new students, as enrollment increased for the third consecutive year.
The university expects its total enrollment for this year to be nearly 4,525 students, the largest in 34 years. That includes 1,000 new undergraduate students, university officials said. Classes started there Tuesday.
“There are many, many reasons for the enrollment growing the last few years,” said David Fevig, the university’s assistant vice president of enrollment management.
He listed among them the new buildings on campus, which include a sophomore residence hall that opened this year and a welcome center than opened last year.
“People just comment on what a beautiful campus it is,” he said.
This year, U.S. News and World Report ranked VU at No. 6 for Midwestern schools, as well as ranking it No. 2 as a “best value” and No. 3 as an “up and coming.” Washington Monthly also rated VU as No. 3 in the nation for “contribution to do good,” which took into account the fact that students at the school do more than 90,000 hours of community service hours each year.
VU has revamped its financial aid packages to make the university more affordable to students, and is reaching out to find potential students.
“We’re getting a little more refined in how we search for students, so we are getting those who are a good fit,” Fevig said.
He also noted the quality of VU’s athletic teams, and its job placement rate of more than 90 percent for more than 20 years. Within six months of graduating, 96 percent of the class of 2013 had a job or was enrolled in graduate school.