A record number of students have enrolled at the University of Delaware this semester, but university officials say they have the ability and the infrastructure to support a growing population.
Nearly 24,000 students enrolled in the university this fall — up more than 750 from last year. About 18,000 of them are undergraduates.
The university welcomed more than 2,200 international students this semester — the highest on record since 1994 when it began collecting data for global enrollment. Educators also noticed a spike in the university’s undergraduate population of domestic underrepresented minority students, which is now over 2,700.
The number of domestic underrepresented minority students at UD has increased by more than 60 percent over the last decade.
UD’s Vice President for Enrollment Chris Lucier said UD wants to see even more growth in both of those populations over the next few years.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the past three, four, five years, especially with domestic underrepresented students and international students, but we want to continue to create a dynamic and a diverse community here of learners,” Lucier said.
It’s an advantage for the university to foster a more diverse student population, he said.
“When we can do that, and we are doing it, it enhances the intellectual opportunity and personal growth of all of those students,” Lucier said.
UD has planned for a slow growth over the next four to five years to support its growing population.
Lucier said they have enough space in their residence halls to provide for between 700 - 800 more undergraduates over that time.
The school added about 700 students this year alone to top 18,000 undergrads.
