Ohio University administrators are revisiting VisionOhio plans to increase enrollment by 1,000 undergraduates and 500 graduate students by 2010 and will update the projections during Spring Quarter.

“In a lot of places, enrollment just happens, and we’re trying to be more thoughtful and purposeful about our student enrollment,” said Mike Williford, associate provost for Institutional Research and Enrollment Planning. “We can’t be all things to all people, and VisionOhio was an attempt to set priorities and be fiscally responsible.”

The five-year enrollment plan, which was implemented in 2006, was the result of findings from the VisionOhio Resources Subcommittee. It recommended the university create a long-term, comprehensive enrollment plan that considered the entire student body, rather than year-to-year targets that focused on the incoming freshman class.

“This is a very big picture in terms of the overall enrollment for the institution,” said Provost Kathy Krendl. “We’re not just looking at the size of the freshman class or the size of the undergraduate population.”

The 2006 plan targeted the Engineering, Communication and Business colleges for the most undergraduate expansion, showing the capability to increase 150 to 200 students for each college.

The Enrollment Planning Committee will be meeting with deans from all academic colleges this quarter to discuss capacity capabilities and resources necessary to increase enrollment. Opinions from departments such as Housing, Student Affairs, Financial Aid, Admissions and Faculty Senate also will be sought.

“We don’t want to make any drastic changes, which is why we’re being so inclusive in all the different groups we’re consulting,” Williford said. “We know we’re kind of landlocked as far as housing,” Williford said. “We know there are certain things we can and can’t do.”

The construction of the new residence hall on South Green put the university “out of the danger zone” as far as housing an increased student body, he said. The 350-bed building will allow the university to close and renovate other residence halls, according to a Dec. 4 Post story.

“The swing dorm is enough for the foreseeable future,” Krendl said. “We felt that we weren’t able to take a building offline and renovate it because they were always full. We factored this need into our plan, saying that we have to be able to keep up on our facilities.”

“The fundamental principle that I operate under is that we don’t want to simply attract students that are going to go to OU, we want students who are going to come and succeed and stay at the university,” Williford said.