While most other University of Louisiana System schools experienced enrollment gains, Grambling State University’s enrollment dropped this fall. Enrollment at GSU, with 4,992 students this semester, dropped almost 5 percent from last fall’s numbers.
Gains in enrollment at other University of Louisiana System schools from last fall to this fall ranged from a high of 4.23 percent at McNeese State in Lake Charles to a low of .25 percent at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Other than GSU, another Louisiana school experienced an enrollment decline. That school is Southeastern, which is down 42 percent, from 15,224 in fall 2008 to 15,160 this semester.
Former Grambling State student Darryl Cunningham, would have been a sophomore at GSU this year. Cunningham expressed concerns regarding Grambling’s enrollment and procedures.
“I feel as if they are just suckering us for everything we’ve got.
” I wanted to come back to Grambling, actually liked the school.
“Yet when tuition went up to an all-time high, along with the out-of-state fee waiver, I just couldn’t afford it,” said Cunningham.
James Sloan, a Grambling State senior, blamed the financial aid process and said that it is “failing significantly.’
“They set certain dates that apply to all students when money as well as information should be submitted, yet we still receive refunds months after they should have been dispersed,” said Sloan.
“Or we just never receive our money at all. Students who leave Grambling for other than financial purposes are leaving because our system is so weak.”
Sophomore Kenitra Boldon, said, “Grambling cannot produce students when they aren’t even producing what it is they are advertising to get them down here.
“Due to the budget cuts and scholarships not being fulfilled … People decide that Grambling is not for them.”
A representative from the registrar’s office was unavailable for comment by press time.
Fall 2009 enrollment figures for the schools in the University of Louisiana System:
Grambling 4,992
La. Tech 11,289
McNeese 8,645
Nicholls State 7,181
Northwestern 9,247
Southeastern 15,160
La.-Lafayette 16,361
La.-Monroe 9,004