DAN ORZECHOWSKI
News Editor
For the first time since Fall 2013, there are over 1,100 first-year students enrolled at Fredonia.
According to last year’s admissions report, in 2013 Fredonia saw 1,105 new faces. In that same year, the university received 6,069 applications, and 3,141 (52 percent) of them were admitted.
Since that same Fall semester, the percentage of admitted applications has increased annually. Although this year’s number of applications received is 616 fewer than in 2013, the percentage of admitted students has increased by 10 percent.
As reported by The Leader last month, Fredonia welcomed the second-largest freshmen class the university has seen. This semester’s intake goal was set at 1,400 first-year students, transfer students and graduates. According to Daniel Tramuta, the associate vice president for enrollment services, that goal was exceeded with a total of 1,537 new students.
In an email to Fredonia’s faculty, Tramuta explained that, “Both Enrollment Services and Admissions planning for Fall 2018 and beyond has been underway for more than a year since we migrated to a 24-month recruitment calendar.”
Next year’s new student target will bump up to 1,640, while the goal for the total amount of students attending Fredonia is set at 4,800.
Efforts are also being made to strengthen the college-going culture in western New York. In the same email, Tramuta added that a new Pre- College Outreach program has been initiated to help introduce students in grades 5 through 10. This program, coordinated by Rebekah Conti, is expected to “[facilitate] the group visit process” and “showcase unique academic and special interest engagement opportunities on campus for students.”
Since this year’s top seven feeder high schools are all within 50 miles of Fredonia, Pre-College Outreach is looking to boost these numbers even higher.