Woodward, Okla. — ALVA -- With an overall increase in summer enrollment of about 4 percent, Northwestern Oklahoma State University seems to be following a recent trend.

According to an AP story released earlier this month, enrollment at several of Oklahoma’s public universities has been up as much as 10 and 20 percent over the past year.

In addition, the AP article noted several institutions, including Rogers State University in Claremore and the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, are expecting enrollment to be up another 5 to 6 percent this fall.

According to the article, officials at those universities “say the economic downturn ... (has) helped boost enrollment at their schools.”

“But in Northwest Oklahoma it’s a little different,” said Steve Valencia, associate vice president for university relations at NWOSU.

Valencia said the opportunity for trade jobs in the oil and gas industry is helping to keep the area’s unemployment numbers down.

“So I don’t think we’ll see the influx of people going to school like they are in the metro areas where there is higher unemployment and people are going back for retraining,” he said.

In fact, he said at Northwestern’s Woodward campus “enrollment was pretty much static” this summer.

He attributed NWOSU’s slight overall increase in summer enrollment to the greater availability of online courses rather than the economy.

“These online classes are more flexible because there’s no set times they have to attend class,” Valencia said.  “I think we saw additional students take advantage of that this summer.”

Valencia said the university is expecting another increase in enrollment this fall as well.

“For this fall, early projections are for enrollment to be up.  I think there is potential for growth at all 3 of our campuses: Enid, Alva and Woodward,” he said.  “We’ve seen consistent growth in Woodward the past 2 years and I think there’s the possibility to see that continue.”

As far as the NWOSU-Woodward campus is concerned, Valencia said the biggest factor driving the increase in enrollment has been the additional space offered  with the completion of the NWOSU-Woodward building in 2008.

“The new campus facility has contributed significantly to the growth of programs there at Woodward,” he said, noting “with that facility and what we’re able to do with it, there is a lot of opportunity for more growth.”

In fact, this year with the help of a new associate dean of graduate programming, Valencia said the university is hoping to promote and grow graduate school opportunities at the Woodward campus.

In addition, he said, “one of the things we’re excited about this year is that with community partners like Woodward Regional Hospital and other entities we will have a full-time nursing faculty on the campus which will allow us to offer additional opportunities in our nursing program there.”

But students hoping to take advantage of these new opportunities or any of the courses offered at the school, should act quickly, Valencia said.

Increased enrollment means that classes fill up faster than ever, he said.

“The first day of school for Northwestern is Aug. 16 and we’re already seeing many of our classes filling up quickly,” he said.  “So I would encourage any student, whether they are a returning student who hasn’t already enrolled or a new student, to enroll as soon as possible in order to get the courses they need and want.”

Enrolling early is also important to allow enough time to line out financial aid, Valencia said.

“That stuff takes time to process, especially for those looking for student loans, because that process has changed.  There’s no more direct lending from banks, it’s all a government run program now, which means it can be an even more time-consuming process,” he said.

“Every day a student delays in getting their financial aid in order, it’s going to take that much longer to get it processed,” he said.  “The sooner you can do it, the better.”

Information about classes available through any of NWOSU’s 3 campuses is available online at www.nwosu.edu.

“We have a course schedule online on our website,” Valencia said, “so students can see what courses have been filled.  And that is updated daily, so they can know what’s being offered in real-time.”

In addition to looking at the online course schedule, Valencia encouraged students wanting to attend classes at NWOSU-Woodward “to call the school and make an appointment to speak with Fisher or another staff member about enrolling.”

To set up an appointment or for more information, call (580) 254-2500.