Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

As Student Numbers Climb Some Utah Colleges See More Growth Than Others

Utah Valley University
Utah Valley University in Orem is the state's largest college and one of the fastest growing campuses.

There are nearly 5,000 more college students in the state than there were last year according to new data from Utah’s System of Higher Education. So far that hasn’t caused too many headaches for Utah’s largest school, Utah Valley University.

The universities seeing the biggest growth are Dixie State in St. George and Utah Valley University in Utah County. Both had around a 7 percent increase. For UVU, that’s 2,000 additional students.

 

“We’ve got lots of new students and we already had lots of students, UVU president says Matt Holland.

 

Credit Utah Valley University

UVU is the state's largest school by enrollment and Holland says of the new students, a little more than half are coming from nearby counties. The other half come from all over the state, quite a few from California and some international.

 

“We’re handling it fine, there are no crisis on campus, we’re providing classes. There’s actually parking despite what some people may want to claim about that," says Holland.

 

He says students will probably always complain about parking.

 

Meanwhile other schools aren’t growing. While the number of full-time students at Utah State in Logan and Salt Lake Community College saw a small increase, overall enrollment is down by the hundreds on both campuses.

 

Lee Hale began listening to KUER while he was teaching English at a Middle School in West Jordan (his one hour commute made for plenty of listening time). Inspired by what he heard he applied for the Kroc Fellowship at NPR headquarters in DC and to his surprise, he got it. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State. He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear.
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.