Add UMSL to the list of universities high off of a record enrollment this fall. Numbers the school released today show that its total enrollment of 16,548 students this year — a 5 percent increase over last year — breaks the previous record of 16,094 students from 1996.

The school also broke enrollment records in its numbers of graduate students and minorities. In a news release, UMSL credited the gains to the school’s increased scholarships and frozen tuition. All public universities in Missouri froze tuition this year in an agreement with Gov. Jay Nixon to be spared from state funding cuts in return.

UMSL leaders are also likely relieved to see that their first-time freshman numbers have rebounded after two years of small dips.

Public and private universities in the St. Louis region alike have been giddily reporting higher enrollments this fall. That’s not necessarily surprising given that many people tend to go back to school during a down economy. But many schools were also worried that the downturn would lead more students to choose publics over privates, or community colleges over four-year publics. But those fears have not generally led to lower enrollments — at least not yet. It still remains to be seen how the economy will affect the decisions of students applying for college right now for next fall.

But for now, many private universities in the region have seen their enrollments hold steady or grow. And not surprisingly in this economy, the gains at many community colleges this fall have been off the charts with many schools seeing double-digit percentage increases.

The bumper crop of students has been helped in part by an uptick of the number of students graduating from high schools in the last several years. The U.S. Department of Education reported last month that a record 18.4 million students were expected to attend the nation’s two-year and four-year universities this fall. That is up from 18.2 million last year and 15.3 million in 2000.

Here’s a smattering of other enrollment records broken this fall at area universities. One small caveat, though: some of these are preliminary numbers reported from the first-day of classes:

• SLU has had a record total enrollment of more than 13,000 this fall.
• Mizzou broke undergraduate, minority, and total enrollment records on the first-day of classes this year. Its total enrollment of 30,831 is the highest ever for the school. Its freshman enrollment did not quite beat last year’s record class, but was the second-highest on record.
• Missouri S&T is up 6 percent over last year’s class for a total enrollment of 6,614. In total, the Rolla campus has grown by more than 43 percent since the fall of 2000, when the school had around 4,600 students.
• St. Louis College of Pharmacy welcomed an extra 50 students this year for a record enrollment of more than 1,200 students.
• SIUE has reached its largest overall enrollment at 13,940 students, breaking the previous high of 13,700 recorded in 1970. The major gains have been in the retention rate and graduate enrollment, while the school has tried to keep increases to its freshman class, which is basically at capacity, to a minimum.
• The Missouri State University system has enrolled a record-breaking 22,938 students this fall, about 1,250 more than last year.

But don’t expect these record enrollments to last forever. The economy will hopefully return to normal. And a demographic dip in high school seniors should begin hitting soon, leading to potentially smaller freshman classes in the next couple of years. But at the same time, schools are preparing for this downturn by recruiting students from outside the region, so who knows really what the future holds…

The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday.com/thegrade.