For Erin MacMillan, good timing led her to finally take advantage of Bend’s university.

“I was at a point where I needed to change career paths, and I didn’t really see myself leaving Bend,” MacMillan said. “And then right at that time they decided to offer a program in computer science and I just jumped on board.”

Stories like MacMillan’s are not uncommon at Oregon State University-Cascades Campus, which posted a 19 percent fall term enrollment growth in undergraduate programs and an 8 percent rise in graduate programs.

All in all, 936 students are taking courses at OSU-Cascades, which represents a 16 percent growth in “full-time equivalency,” a measure of the number of credits being taking. There are also 175 students enrolled in lower-level courses at Central Oregon Community College who intend to matriculate to OSU-Cascades, bringing the student count to 1,111.

“The growth is a little more than we projected,” said Jane Reynolds, director of enrollment services. “We’re still looking for double-digit growth next year too, but I think we’ll see a more immediate big jump when we get to the fall 2015.”

By fall 2015, OSU-Cascades plans to be a four-year university complete with a new “living and learning center” in southwest Bend.

The university experienced enrollment growth across demographic subgroups, though there was an especially notable growth in minority students, including a 9 percent increase in Hispanic students and 75 percent in American Indians and Alaskan native.

“There’s been a lot of interest in our new programs, so exercise and sports science is growing rapidly, and while the there are only 17 students enrolled in it, the new computer science program is also growing very fast for a brand new major,” Reynolds said.

With 154 students, human development and family sciences is the largest program at the university.

“We’ve had that program essentially since the beginning of OSU-Cascades, and it’s been growing steadily since,” Reynolds said. “There’s a lot of interest from students in the field, especially the human services option, where students learn how to work with people and go on to intern and eventually work in areas like counseling and social service.”

Emily Yozamp, a freshman at COCC in human development and family sciences, moved from Los Angeles to study at OSU-Cascades.

“I came to OSU-Cascades because of the great offerings, and the COCC pricing under OSU’s wing for the first years,” Yozamp said. “I chose my major because I see children as our future leaders and I worry a lot of people don’t seem to see the significance of working with them.”

Administrators continue to cite the benefits of living in Bend as another driver of growth.

“Bend’s always been one of my favorite places, so that was a big draw,” said Tyson Oleman, an undergraduate in the energy engineering systems program. “I also want to work in manufacturing as an engineer, and they had the ESE program, so that really worked out.”

OSU-Cascades also continues to have a significantly older population than the traditional college, with the average age of undergraduates at 29 and graduate students at 35.

“I have a family here in Bend and it just wasn’t feasible for me to head over the mountains to Corvallis,” said Elizabeth Allison, a mother with two middle schoolers. “I wanted to further my career and study accounting, and they just started offering the program, so the timing couldn’t have been better.”

New students lead to new demands, and Reynolds said that the university is going to have to up its hiring to address the added demand.

“We do feel very, very busy here at OSU-Cascades,” Reynolds said. “We haven’t hired a lot of extra staff yet but we will need to in response to the continued enrollment growth. The people who advise students are most impacted due to the greater numbers they are having to serve, but it’s something we can certainly address.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com