The 2008 fall semester enrollment at The University of Louisiana at Monroe is 8,767 students—a 2.65 percent increase from last fall's enrollment.

ULM President James Cofer attributes this success to faculty and staff who meet the needs of Louisiana's ever-changing student population through such innovations as Gateway to Online Degrees. GOLD enables non-traditional students to utilize the convenience and accessibility of online learning in an accelerated format.

Louisiana is one of only three states in the country with a shrinking high school population; to combat that, ULM faculty and staff are exploring a variety of potential students.

"At ULM, we work hard to attract and retain high-ability students, while at the same time, expanding our idea of a university. We are reaching out to different student populations‹both traditional and non-traditional students," Cofer said. "We are meeting the needs of northeast Louisiana through different modalities of instruction, and we are pleased it is working."