St. Mary's College of Maryland enjoyed a 3.1 increase
ANNAPOLIS (Nov. 19, 2008) - Enrollment in Maryland's two- and four-year public and independent colleges and universities for the 2008 fall semester reached a record high, according to a report released today by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
Enrollment at Maryland's colleges and universities rose by an impressive 3.5 percent, or 11,352 students. Overall, the headcount for Maryland's colleges and universities improved to 337,533 students.
"These are fantastic numbers," Higher Education Secretary James E. Lyons, Sr., said. "This tells me that students want to attend Maryland's colleges and universities which I have consistently and proudly say are the best in the nation.
Secretary Lyons praised the O'Malley-Brown administration's "outstanding commitment to higher education from our community colleges to our graduate schools. I don't think any of our public or independent campuses could ask for any better leadership from Governor O'Malley and Lt. Governor Brown than they have now. This is a very supportive administration."
Public four-year institutions increased their enrollment by 4.1 percent and accounted for more than half of the total growth statewide. Enrollment at Maryland's community colleges increased by 4.3 percent. At Maryland's independent colleges and universities, enrollment grew by 1.2 percent.
Community colleges experienced the greatest percentile gains of any higher education sector while accounting for close to half (46.4 percent) of the overall statewide growth. Governor O'Malley provided a historic $81 million in capital funding in his FY 2009 budget for community colleges.
All of Maryland's 16 community colleges experienced overall enrollment growth. The Community Colleges of Baltimore County grew by the largest number of students (1,247) while the highest percentage increase occurred at Frederick Community College (11.6 percent).
Total enrollment also increased at all 13 of the public four-year colleges and universities.
Maryland's four-year public institutions enjoyed the largest numeric gains in actual students, with enrollment increasing by 5,939 students. Total enrollment for the University System of Maryland increased by 4.2 percent (an increase of 5,768 students) to 143,416 this year. Morgan State University saw a total increase of 1.6 percent to 6,955 students and St. Mary's College of Maryland enjoyed a 3.1 increase.
Full and part-time graduate and professional enrollments rose by 2.5 percent and 4.6 percent respectively which set record highs.
Source: Maryland Higher Education Commission