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HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — The William Carey University School of Education has set a record. As of August, it reached its highest enrollment ever with 1,270 students.
That number is 150 more students than last year at this time and several dozen more than the last highest number of 1,244 in fall 2012.
Ben Burnett, dean of the School of Education, tells The Hattiesburg American (http://hatne.ws/1M7MGUn) one reason for the increase is the school has gone looking for students.
"We have done a lot of recruiting this year," he said. "There is no substitute for face-to-face recruitment at school districts and conferences."
Burnett said the growth is also due to a number of new offerings including several programs that are now being offered in online formats.
"Most of our enrollment is in the graduate programs," he said. "We have a lot of people scattered across the state who are taking our master's degree online.
"We're starting a 100 percent online doctoral degree that will begin in November of this year."
Other online options include a bachelor's degree in physical education, master's degrees in education with multiple specialty areas and a specialist degree in instructional leadership.
"The new online specialist program has 120 students in it," Burnett said. "That one degree has really contributed to increasing our enrollment."
Burnett said the online programs are perfect for busy graduate students.
"They won't have to take off work or take night classes because all of their coursework is online," he said. "If there's one key to our success, it's our online programs."
William Carey President Tommy King said what was happening in the School of Education was happening in many departments on campus.
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Information from: The Hattiesburg American, http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com
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