LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - The University of Wyoming expects about 1,900 fewer students to enroll in the upcoming semester than were enrolled at the university in fall 2019, officials said.
The university said 6,212 undergraduates enrolled in fall 2019, while preliminary figures indicate that next semester there will be an 18.8% decrease in enrollment, The Laramie Boomerang reported Sunday.
A drop in the number of graduate students is likely to be greater, with 1,170 graduate and professional students expected to enroll, a 38.9% decline from last year.
“We called everyone who did not register that we were expecting to be back,” Vice President for Finance and Administration Neil Theobald told a legislative task force last week.
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a depressed energy sector in Wyoming are the overwhelming factors for students choosing not to return, said Theobald, who served as the university’s acting president for a year before returning to the vice president’s role.
He said that many of the university’s students are employed by the energy industry in western and northern Wyoming. Many students or their parents are now without a job, Theobald said.
Those who plan to return are signing up for fewer course credits, which will result in more time required to graduate, he said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some - especially older adults and people with existing health problems - it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
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