A Diverse Campus
Utah Valley University’s open enrollment and accessibility has made it an appealing option to many diverse and nontraditional students across the nation and globe.
UVU’s population of students seems to reflect the national average. Across the nation, nontraditional students are growing towards the majority and the numbers on campus also reflect the outnumbering of women to men seeking higher education.
Before the recent drop in enrollment, UVU had no concerns other than growth and expansion. Programs and buildings were bursting at the seams. Even with the current drop, which the whole state is facing, the university is still home to diverse students hailing from all 50 states and from 70 countries around the world.
Like the rest of the nation, UVU is the school of choice for a growing population of non-traditional students, the name given to the 25-and-over crowd.
According to the Department of Student Success and Retention, over the last six years the average of non-traditional students at UVU has been 33 percent. And when high school students participating in concurrent enrollment classes are dropped from that figure, the number shoots up to 40 percent.
Though this graduation season is less a celebration for the old timers than it is for the traditional 18-24 year-old students, they claim a graduation rate from UVU that’s seven percent higher.
Alex Sousa
Reporter
Nicole Shepard
Assistant News Editor
Alex Sousa is studying journalism in UVU’s communication department. He’s serving as the managing editor at the UVU Review as well as the editor of the music blog on uvureview.com. He’s had experience working as a freelance writer and also as a copy writer at a marketing agency. Currently he’s working as the Editor-in-chief of the Utah Tech Magazine, an interactive, digital publication. He’s a Utah native who’s traveled around the world; having lived in Mexico, backpacked through Europe, studied in the Middle East and—for a time—been stranded in the Ukraine. He can be found on Facebook and he’s available on Twitter @TwoFistedSousa or by email at [email protected].