University of the Virgin Islands enrollment declines due to visa restrictions

by Melody Rames-Wiggins
Caribbean Net News Correspondent

Monday,  November 28, 2005

ST CROIX, USVI: Student enrolment is down at the University of the Virgin Islands. University officials said one contributor to the decline is the difficulty foreign students are having in getting visas due to restrictions set in place by the federal government after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The federal government has also decreased financial aid to needy students, according to the University.

The information was revealed in the November meeting of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Mary Ann LaFleur, UVI's director of Institutional Research, said that for the first time, comparing Fall 2004 enrollment to enrollment for Fall 2005, there is an increase in the number of full-time students over part-time students.

Also for the first time, there are more part-time students enrolled on St. Croix than on St. Thomas. "UVI's student body is changing, shifting," LaFleur said. As the University's chief academic officer, Dr. Al Hassan Musah said he will continue to monitor the changes in student enrollment, especially a reported 7 percent drop overall.
 

"We need to know what's going on," said board Chair Dr. Auguste E. Rimpel, Jr. "We need to be taking short-term actions and coming up with a comprehensive plan to take care of it in the long term. It's a serious problem that we need to address."

The University of the Virgin Islands has two campuses. The main Campus is on St. Thomas and the annex is on St. Croix. For the fall semester, UVI enrolled 2,392 students, including 2,185 undergrads and 207 graduate students. These figures represent a 12 per cent drop since 2003.

Dr. Musah said the university is developing a comprehensive plan to reverse the enrollment trend. The plan, which will be completed in January, includes strategies to improve enrollment including; offering day care to single mothers and developing an student honors program. 

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