PSu Magazine Winter 2002

R ecord numbers of students poured through the doors of Portland State University chi fall. Official early calculations placed the fourth-week enrollment numbers at an unprecedented 20,185, but the figure wa expected to grow to 22,000 by the end of the term because of additional enrollment in weekend and short-term classes. The trend is statewide, but without a doubt PSU, the largest of the seven institution in the Oregon University System, leads the pack. Not only does PSU have the largest student enroll– ment, but the school is the first in the state to surpass 20,000 students regis– tered at any one time. If numbers told the whole story the typical PSU student could be described a a native Oregonian, 28- year-old white woman studying busi– ness administration or, perhaps, psychology. Women make up 55.6 per– cent of Portland State's tudent popu– lation and 60.3 percent of chose to receive bachelor's degrees this year. Oreg nians compri e 72.8 percent of the student body, although tudents from all 50 states and 85 countries can be found in PSU cla srooms. As far as majors go, the most popu– lar after business administration and p ychology are busines management, art, and computer science. However, the number of students choosing engi– neering as a major rose 20 percent over fall 2000. Minority tudent head counts are up, too. Native American tudents increa ed 21 percent, while Hispanic, Asian, and African American counts are al o up. S o if the typical student, the one described by the stati tical mean, is just one wave in a matriculating tide, what do the statistic really mean? The Office of In titutional Research and Planning, which keeps track of such information, divide tu– dents into three categories and tries to capture the alient facts about each one in a profile to be found on the PSU Web ice: the student, the incom– ing freshman, and the transfer tudent. This divi i n is obviously artificial,