Central's freshman enrollment showed a tiny increase, to a new record of 1,474 students. Transfer students are down and enrollment at the university's six off-campus student centers increased to 1,710 students.
Eastern Washington saw its overall enrollment drop by 164 to 9,841 students this fall. A drop in freshmen enrollment makes up most of the difference. One area where Eastern enrollment has increased is in its graduate school programs.
"If you look at the five-year trend, we're still doing good," said university spokesman Dave Meany.
He said Eastern officials think the slight drop in enrollment does not necessarily represent a trend, but they also have noticed a drop in high school enrollment in the school's main feeder area, Spokane County.
"We're launching a new recruiting and retention effort," Meany said. "We feel like we've had great momentum in recent years with enrollment and we don't want to lose that."
--Associated Press
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