UW president has plan to ease enrollment crunch

University of Washington regents have been asked to approve a 1,700-student increase in yearly freshman enrollment over the next decade, with two-thirds of the growth in the school's two branch campuses.

At a meeting Thursday, University President Mark A. Emmert also proposed awarding 2,000 additional degrees over the next decade in technology, engineering, mathematics, science and other high-demand fields.

Of the additional freshmen slots, 600 would be at the campus in Seattle and the other 1,100 would be divided between branch campuses in Tacoma and Bothell to ease the school's enrollment crunch. About 85 percent of the students in most entering freshman classes are in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes.

This year the university rejected nearly 8,000 of 20,000 freshman applicants for the main campus, while the Bothell campus has had trouble meeting enrollment goals.

"Although we enrolled a record number of students this past spring, we also had to turn away many other qualified students, particularly those applying directly from high school," Emmert said in a prepared statement. "This plan will help address this problem."

Under his plan, which hinges on funding approval from the Legislature, total enrollment at the three campuses would rise by about 8,000 students by 2018.

That would double the current full-time enrollment at the two branch campuses. UW Tacoma would increase from 2,400 in the upcoming academic year to nearly 5,500 by 2017, while UW Bothell would grow from 1,900 to 3,800 over the same period.

The Seattle campus would grow by 2,000 full-time students to 41,000. Total UW enrollment would top 50,000.

The proposal for additional degrees stems from a recent directive by the state's Higher Education Coordinating Board for Washington's public colleges and universities to grant 48 percent more degrees in high-demand fields within 10 years.

Emmert is to present his plan to the HEC Board at a meeting Monday.