Enrollment in MSU's graduate programs has increased by more than 100 students including across-the-board growth in all minority groups.
MSU's Annual Progress Report on Affirmative Action and Diversity Within the Community, released Tuesday, reported an 8-percent increase to 1,690 for total graduate enrollment.
This year there were 2,943 students admitted to the graduate school, but not everyone who is admitted ends up enrolling. In 2001, MSU accepted 2,989 graduate students.
Total student enrollment on East Lansing's campus for the fall 2002 semester was 44,937, up from fall semester 2001's enrollment of 44,227.
"When the job market is tough, more students decide to go to graduate school," Graduate School Dean Karen Klomparens said. "There is also a growing trend or belief that master's degrees are going to be the important degrees of the future, like the bachelor's degrees were in the 1950s."
There also are several applications still coming into the graduate admissions office. In 2001, there were about 9,000 applications, and this year the school has received more than 10,000 applications, Klomparens said.
Hispanics had an 8-percent increase, Asian Pacific Islanders had a 31-percent increase and blacks experienced a 3-percent increase from a year ago.
"That is a problem," said Deborah Sudduth, president of Black Faculty and Staff Association. Sudduth said black enrollment in graduate programs should be increasing in proportion to the overall enrollment increase.
"They need to target historically black colleges and target students from those colleges to see if they want to come to MSU," Sudduth said.
The school also saw an increase in Native American students as 11 came to MSU this year compared to the three who enrolled in 2001.
Klomparens said the Graduate School is working hard to recruit more ethnic minorities and students from under-represented groups.
And with more minorities getting their bachelor's degrees, the school can choose from a more diverse pool of students, Klomparens said.
"We do some recruitment at historically black colleges across the Big Ten and smaller four-year colleges," Klomparens said.
