Oregon State University-Cascades Campus is the fastest-growing school in the eight-campus Oregon University System, according to data recently released by OUS.

OSU-Cascades’ full-time equivalent enrollment grew by 14.5 percent compared to last year. Oregon State University-Corvallis, with 4.7 percent growth, was the closest to the Bend campus. Both the Corvallis campus and University of Oregon, however, added more students than the total who attend the Cascades campus.

OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson said the high growth means the campus stays on pace to meet its goal of having 2,000 students by 2020. Johnson believes hitting that number would go a long way toward justifying making the campus a four-year college.

The larger the campus gets and the more it recruits out-of-state students, the better chance OSU-Cascades has of hitting the goal, Johnson said.

“You’ve got to get big enough so people know you’re real and are sticking around,” she said.

Johnson said the growth comes down to several factors, including the economy and Central Oregon Community College’s growth. About one-third of the students come from COCC, so that college’s growth can have a direct effect on the campus.

Campus officials realize that if OSU-Cascades is going to become a four-year college, it needs to draw students from outside the region.

Adding offerings like energy engineering and management in recent years has helped that effort. This year, 7 percent of OSU-Cascades students are from out of state. Three years ago, out-of-state students made up 4 percent of enrollment.

Braden Schick, a first-year student, moved to Bend from San Diego to attend college. Schick has not picked a major yet, but he is considering energy engineering and management. After being admitted to the Corvallis campus, Schick decided he wanted a smaller school and found that in Bend.

“It’s pretty much been all I expected and more,” he said.

OSU-Cascades is expanding student recruitment across Oregon and into more states than ever before, according to Jane Reynolds, the campus’s director of enrollment services. The campus has pulled students from California, Washington and Idaho for much of its 10-year existence. But in the past three years, OSU-Cascades has begun recruiting in Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

For the first time, OSU-Cascades has joined a statewide recruiting effort by the Oregon University System. Representatives blanket high schools in Oregon, and Reynolds said that should help increase the school’s in-state presence.

“We’re looking for students who might be attracted to our campus,” Reynolds said. “We’re finding that students are very aware of Bend, and families are aware of Bend.”