LA GRANDE — Enrollment at Eastern Oregon University is up 1.1% over fall of 2022, according to a fall enrollment report.

The report indicates Eastern has a head count of 2,798 students. It is the first time enrollment has been up at EOU since 2019 when it had a total headcount of 2,945 students. However, enrollment is still far from what it was in 2015 when EOU’s head count was 3,324.

First year Eastern Oregon University President Kelly Ryan expressed cautious optimism about the increase.

“What we have is real success which is worthy of celebration. It is a credit to the extraordinary hard work of our faculty and staff,” Ryan said at a meeting of the EOU board on Wednesday.

“I am choosing not to jump up and down and do cartwheels over this because of the long-term declines we have had,” she said.

Still there is reason to believe a foundation for future enrollment increases may be being laid based on the current report. Ryan pointed out the current enrollment report indicates that EOU’s freshman enrollment headcount is 269 students, up 6% from a year ago.

“This is really exciting growth. It is a great sign for the future of EOU, she said.

Ryan said every effort should be made to keep this large freshman class at Eastern.

“We need to make a true effort to give these students a sense of belonging,” she said.

Boosting Eastern’s student retention rate, Ryan said will be a key to boosting enrollment moving forward.

“Retention is our greatest avenue for increasing enrollment,” she said.

Ryan said Eastern’s current retention rate of 68% is up a little from a year ago but noted it is the same rate EOU had in 2015.

“Our retention rate has not really increased,” she said, speaking of the past eight years.

A breakdown of Eastern’s enrollment indicates that 58% of its students take classes online and 42% of its students attend classes on campus. Ryan said many of Eastern’s student-athletes take classes online because of the time demands of being involved in intercollegiate athletics. She would like to see athletes begin taking more classes on campus to give them opportunities to benefit from the strong in-person instruction the school offers.

Ryan said Eastern may begin offering more evening classes to make it easier for students like those in athletics, to take more courses on campus.

Ryan said Eastern, and many universities like it in Oregon, have faced strong headwinds in recent years in terms of recruiting students. One reason is that the number of students in Oregon going on to college has dropped about 10% in recent years to 56%, below the national average of 61%.