As reported in the last issue, RWC has a record enrollment of 4,820 students, a 14 percent increase from Autumn of 2008. What people may not know, however, are the recent trends that have occurred in the RWC student population, as revealed last week in data released by the Office of Institutional Support.The most significant trend, according to the data, has been that of minority students. From Autumn 2008 to Autumn 2009, RWC has seen a 64 percent increase of Hispanic students and a 33 percent increase of African-American students. This, in turn, has increased the total minority representation by 31 percent. The data show that more minorities are getting the opportunity to go to college and are taking that opportunity.
Another trend that RWC has seen is the increasing number of males at the school. This quarter, 1,789 males have enrolled as opposed to 1,547 in the fall of 2008. This is a 16 percent increase. However, females still outnumber males, as 63 percent of the students at Raymond Walters are female. The College did see a 14 percent increase in female students.
RWC also has a large number of freshmen this quarter, an increase of 26 percent over last fall. This makes sense because the University of Cincinnati has had a record number of freshmen at all campuses. There is also a seven-percent increase in sophomores at RWC. This might explain why the number of full-time students has increased 19 percent. Freshmen tend to take more classes than older students.
The large number of freshmen ties in with the trend that younger students are enrolling at RWC. Although the average student age is 25, the number of students 19 and younger has increased by 27 percent this quarter. This shows that students probably realize that it could be cheaper to commute to a small college than stay in a dormitory at a larger college.
RWC also had a 16 percent increase of students aged 25-29, a 13 percent increase of students aged 40 and up, and a 10 percent increase of students aged 30-39. Students aged 20-24 had the lowest increase, but the number was still high at eight percent.