CHICKASHA – Year-over-year and during the last six years, enrollment has increased at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
Total enrollment for the fall semester this year is 1,075, a 5% increase from the headcount of 1,026 at the same time last year, school records show. Compared to the fall 2020 headcount, enrollment has increased by 47%.
Freshman enrollment has grown by 18%: from 240 last September to 283 this month. Compared to the fall 2020 semester, though, freshman enrollment has soared by 119%.
Full-time equivalency enrollments (12 hours or more) have increased by 7%: from 909 last fall to 977 this fall. In addition, total credit-hour production has risen by 7% during the same period: from 13,635 to 14,653.
Compared to the fall 2020 semester, both FTE enrollment and total credit hours have climbed by 45%.
That’s one reason why USAO officials and supporters are awaiting renovation of Willard Hall, a dormitory that has been shuttered since 2002. It is expected to reopen in January 2027 and will house 166 students, USAO President Kayla Hale said.
USAO is “working closely” with the University of Oklahoma School of Nursing “to produce more graduates with a 2+2 program with them,” Dr. Hale related during a recent meeting of the Chickasha Economic Development Council.
Students interested in a nursing degree – which USAO does not offer – “come to USAO and get their pre-requisites, then transfer to OU to receive a bachelor’s degree in nursing.” OU has clinical sites in Duncan and Lawton “that we believe would be appealing to nursing students from our region,” she said.
“We also are working with OU to identify graduate degree pathways, such as engineering, for our graduates,” Hale said.
Data provided by the State Regents for Higher Education show that 96.8% of Oklahomans who graduate from USAO remain in this state one year afterward, and 90.1% remain in the Sooner State five years after graduating from the four-year liberal arts institution.
Among non-resident students, 83.9% remain in Oklahoma one year after graduation from USAO, and 65.2% remain in this state five years after graduation, according to the State Regents.