Roughly 34,000 higher education students will return to or begin classes next week at the city's largest universities.
Students at the Springfield campuses of Missouri State University, Drury University and Ozarks Technical Community College begin their fall semesters Aug. 23. Evangel University begins classes Aug. 25.
About 2,600 freshman will begin classes this semester at MSU, said Don Simpson, associate vice president for enrollment management. He said a rough estimate of transfer students is 1,700.
MSU's Springfield campus has an approximate total enrollment of 17,700, Simpson said.
Among the changes new students will witness will be the changing of the freshman orientation course. It has been changed from a one-hour course to a two-hour course, and it will have a greater focus on the university's public affairs mission, Simpson said.
More than 500 new students will begin at Drury on Monday. Freshman will arrive on campus Aug. 20 for the school's four-day orientation, according to a news release.
The school has approximately 1,500 students enrolled,
according to its Web site.
Freshman will note the newly remodeled Wallace Hall and the nearly complete O'Reilly Family Event Center, the release said.
OTC Assistant Registrar Loren Lundstrom said his information isn't broken down into new and old students but that approximately 13,000 students will be enrolled in the fall semester.
About 500 freshman and transfer students will begin at Evangel this semester. Total enrollment for the semester is about 2,000, said Paul Logsdon, director of public relations and publications.
Evangel is in the midst of rolling out its FrameWorks general education program, which will focus on community involvement and traveling abroad, Logsdon said.
The MSU semester ends Dec. 16, the Drury semester ends Dec. 18, the OTC semester ends Dec. 20 and the Evangel semester ends Dec. 14.[[In-content Ad]]
