Parents and students poured onto campus as move-in day progressed.
Samantha Sullivan
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Cal Poly recently welcomed the largest freshman class in university history, sparking changes affecting agencies across campus.
According to a Cal Poly Admissions trend report from this month, 4,883 freshmen and 949 new transfer students enrolled this fall. In 2012, approximately 4,500 new freshmen and transfer students enrolled.
This is the first year California funded enrollment growth for in-state students, Cal Poly Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey said. Though Humphrey wasn’t at Cal Poly when the university faced huge budget cuts that fueled tuition increases and staff cutbacks, he said a voter-approved proposition to fund education and California Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget allowed Cal Poly to fund the enrollment growth.
“Knowing we were getting the funding, we were able to grow,” he said.
With the increase in students also came an increase in faculty. Humphrey said Cal Poly was able to hire approximately 70 new faculty members this year.
“Our money, first and foremost, that comes in goes into instruction,” he said.
Additionally, there is a slight increase in fee money, he said. Associated Students, Inc. and Health and Counseling Services were two examples Humphrey gave of areas that received a “small financial bump.” Health and Counseling Services took the projected growth as a chance to hire a new counselor to meet demand, he said.
“It’s not the most permanent money,” Humphrey said. “Not sure if it will be there next year so we don’t often make long-term commitments.”
Cal Poly also saw a large number of students graduate last spring, Humphrey said, which created room for new students in classes that could have otherwise been far over capacity.
“The registrar office, the provost, (they) always work to make sure they are looking at where students are at academically to offer the right number and amount of classes to meet their needs,” he said.
University Police Department (UPD) Chief George Hughes is also hoping to get a bump in staff during the next few years. UPD currently has 14 full-time police officers, though Hughes is looking to hire two new officers by 2018.
“When you increase your population in any community, you are going to need to increase resources to meet that demand,” he said.
Hughes, however, does not foresee an increase in tensions among students and community members in San Luis Obispo.
“I don’t think so because we want to increase the population on campus instead of in the community,” he said.
Diversity
Not only is this the largest class, it is also the most diverse.
Cal Poly consistently keeps diversity in mind when recruiting incoming classes, said James Maraviglia, associate vice provost for marketing and enrollment development.
The university adopted partner schools in California with a large number of first-generation college students and also participates in out-of-state events in 32 states, Maraviglia said. The campus used to partner with 25 high schools with a large number of students on sponsored free lunch programs — it has now tripled that number of schools.
“They recruit in targeted areas where we want to increase enrollment,” Humphrey said.
Latino applicants increased 244 percent, African American applicants increased 88 percent and underrepresented minorities applicants increased 235 percent.
White applicants have also increased 40.3 percent over the past decade. White applicants, however, comprise 39.4 percent of the overall applicant pool, compared to 54.5 percent a decade ago, according to the report.
For transfers, Latino applicants increased 260 percent and African American applicants increased 133.3 percent during the past decade. White applicants increased 54 percent during the decade, though they now are 41.1 percent of the applicant pool for transfers, compared to 53 percent 10 years ago.
The reason for the increase of overall students is a mix of several factors, according to Humphrey: “I think first and foremost it is a signal of people’s recognition of the quality of Cal Poly, the value of a degree from Cal Poly.”