In an otherwise gloomy report on enrollment at Oregon’s public universities, Oregon State, and particularly its Cascades campus, stands out. It’s actually seen enrollment grow at a time when its sister schools are faced with a declining number of students. That’s true both of four-year universities and schools in the state’s community college system.

Part of the reason for the overall decline could be the state’s strong economy. Both four-year and community colleges saw an uptick in student numbers that coincided with the Great Recession. Likewise, enrollment in both began shrinking as the economy improved.

But while community colleges collectively have enrollments near the levels reported in 2007-08, that’s not true at four-year schools. Fewer students from Oregon are enrolling in four-year schools, and the numbers of both out-of-state and international students, which have grown steadily in recent years, also are beginning to drop off.

One problem is that fewer Oregonians are graduating from high school now.

All that makes what’s happening at Oregon State University stand out. The school’s online enrollment grew by 7.9 percent in the last year, while its OSU-Cascades campus enrollment was up by 4.6 percent to 1,259. The number of transfer students in Bend grew by 20 percent. While some out-of-state students are included among the 113 first-year students in Bend, fully 85 percent come from Oregon.

All of which points to the need OSU-Cascades fills.

Students enrolled here because there was something available they did not believe they could get at the main campuses of the state’s three large universities or its four smaller ones. Costs generally are lower here, for one thing, and older students may find it easier to continue to work as they attend school.

Whatever the reason, they came this year in record numbers. Clearly, OSU-Cascades is filling a need the state was not meeting before.