Applications Up at USM
With the opening of the 2002-2003 academic year fast approaching, the University of Southern Maine is heading for a record total enrollment of more than 11,000.
Final figures will not be available until early October. But late summer figures from USM's Office of Admission show an overall 15 percent increase in freshmen applications, from 3,179 in August of 2001 to a current total of 3,653. Out-of-state applicants for the freshmen class are up nearly 25 percent, 908 in August of 2001 to a 2002 total of 1,129. Out-of-state applicants make up 30 percent of the freshmen pool this year.
This year marks the first time that USM has received more than 5,000 applications from freshmen and transfer applicants. Total applications have increased 30 percent in three years, 4,130 to 5,081. USM will not report final figures until later this fall, once the deadline has passed to add or drop classes.
Demand for on-campus housing continues to increase. Last fall, the university opened Philippi Hall, the first new residence hall in Gorham in more than 30 years. On-campus resident students have increased seven percent since 2001, 22 percent in three years and 46 percent in the last 10 years. USM now accommodates 1,400 students in Gorham and another 300 in Portland Hall, located on Congress Street in downtown Portland.
USM opened the 2001-2002 academic year with a record 10,966 students, the eighth consecutive year of enrollment increases. That figure included a record number of full-time students, 5,374, who accounted for 49 percent of USM's student body.
USM President Richard Pattenaude has attributed enrollment growth to the "development of new programs and facilities that respond to the needs of Maine people, more aggressive student recruitment efforts and our growing academic reputation."
In recent years, USM has created undergraduate programs in such disciplines as health sciences, media studies, sports medicine, and linguistics, and graduate programs in community planning, accounting and social work. The Gorham campus features a new residence hall and sports complex, while planning is underway in Portland for a bioscience research institute and a community education center that will include a lecture hall, classroom building and parking garage. Last fall, new labs, classrooms and library space opened at USM's Lewiston-Auburn College.
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