Brenau University expects at least a six percent growth in enrollments this year, a number attributed to a whopping 31 percent surge in students registering for online degree programs and significant increases is students signing up for graduate programs.

Scott Briell, senior vice president for enrollment and student services at the 131-year-old institution, said he expected enrollments at the residential Women's College in Gainesville to be about the same as they were a year ago - about 850. That number includes about 170 new first-year students and another 120 transferring in from other colleges or universities.

Overall, however, enrollments will show a significant increase in nontraditional students in coeducational undergraduate and graduate programs in Gainesville at regional campuses in Augusta, Kings Bay, North Atlanta/Norcross and South Atlanta/Fairburn. This time last year the university had about 2,292 students signed up and had registered more than 2,500 by time it posted its official numbers in October. This year there are 2,432 already registered.

Enrollments for Brenau's fully accredited online program, which has six undergraduate and 10 graduate degree tracks, have jumped from 262 at this time last year to 344.

Briell attributes much of the growth to economic factors such people in their 30s and 40s and older coming back to school to improve their credentials to make them more competitive in the job market.

"Our adult education programs are really kicking it," said Briell. "People are entering degree programs that will help them change careers, or they are seeking graduate degrees in their current field to make them more employable."

New Brenau international  students on campus in Gainesville this year include, L-R, Stien Vantomme from Antwerp, Belgium; Andrea Caballero from Colombia; Dora Pales from Hungary and Lovisa Hansson from Sweden.

Of course, the breakdown of the 2009-10 enrollment numbers play straight into Brenau's strategic plan. The university assumes that anyone who enrolls as a college freshman in the future will continue onto to graduate or professional school.

Brenau plans to begin offering doctoral degrees in a number of disciplines starting as early as 2010 or 2011. It also plans to grow to about 5,000 students in the next decade, and most of the new growth will be in numbers of graduate students. Most of those, if not all, will complete at least some of their courses in online studies.  In that scenario, the university plans to cap the enrollment of the Women's College at about 800 or 900 students as it becomes an increasingly more selective undergraduate institution.

This year's crop of Brenau students also includes a number of students from abroad who are on the Gainesville campus as a result of partnership agreements with foreign universities. For example, Stien Vantomme is a journalism major from one of Brenau's newest partner institutions, Lessius University in Antwerp, Belgium; and students from partner institutions in China and Taiwan have enrolled in a special residential cohort program on the Gainesville campus for a Master of Business Administration degree in project management.

Classes begin on all campuses on Monday, Aug. 24.