California Baptist Univer- sity enrollment has o cially reached quintuple digits for the first time in the university’s history.
Dr. Ronald Ellis, university president, announced Sept. 28 that enrollment had reached a university record enrollment of 10,486 students — an increase of 5.5 percent from last year’s enrollment..
The campus’s 2018 full time equivalent (FTE) enrollment figure is 10,647, which is 606 FTE’s or 6.6 percent greater than the 2017 figure.
The number of students has dramatically increased over the last nine years. Since 2009, enrollment has had a 155 percent rise.
Ellis addressed CBU’s Board of Trustee’s fall meeting where he talked about the student increase.
“Fall 2018 is another record-breaking enrollment increase on top of a sustained 24 years of significant increases,” Ellis said. “It puts CBU ahead of schedule to attain the 12,000 by 2025 goal.”
In 1994, when Ellis became president, CBU’s student enrollment totaled 808, making the total student body increase 9,678 students.
Taylor Neece, dean of Admissions, attributed the way CBU’s growth has set the uni- versity apart to academics, the campus, athletics and campus experience.
“A lot of people come to campus for the ‘small private Christian school education,’ and while we’re no longer a small school we can deliver that to them – the ability to meet people, to interact with their faculty, and to be known in their classes,” Neece said.
The increase has led the campus to many changes, including new structures and the new NCAA Division I status in athletics.
“With the increase comes a lot of challenges but they’re challenges we’re ready to take on,” said Chris Hofschroer assistant dean of Students.”
