THUNDER BAY -- Lakehead University has succeeded in reversing an enrolment decline that began five years ago, bringing some relief to administrators dealing with the impact that enrolment drops can have on budgets and on programming.
Figures obtained by tbnewswatch.com show the combined number of full-time, part-time and graduate students at both the Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses this school year is 8,284, an increase of just under three per cent from last year.
But enrolment growth is still less than half the decline experienced last year, when the student population at the two campuses plummeted by about 470.
LU enrolment had also dropped in each of the previous four years, although not nearly as precipitously, after peaking at 8,681 in the 2011/12 academic year.
A breakdown of the current statistics shows the combined full-time and part-time undergraduate enrolment at the Thunder Bay campus this year is 5,944, up by a modest one per cent over last year.
At LU's Orillia, Ont. campus, total undergraduate enrolment of 1,297 represents an increase of two per cent.
The biggest growth sector for the combined campus population is graduate students (1,043), an increase of 14 per cent.
