The University of Washington branch campus in Bothell will begin admitting freshmen in fall 2006 under a bill signed into law by the governor on Wednesday.
It is one of three branch campuses — typically open only to juniors, seniors and graduate students — to gain four-year college status. The others are UW Tacoma and Washington State University’s Vancouver, Wash., campus.
The shift aims to avert a pending enrollment crisis as the state’s overcrowded research universities turn students away.
“This gives students another opportunity,” said Kathleen Drew, director of community and government relations at UW Bothell. Now is a good time for high school juniors and seniors throughout the area to start thinking about the option, she added.
UW Bothell will be allowed to admit 125 lower-division students starting in 2006. The school plans to start with 75 freshmen, mirroring the 75-student growth it will be allowed each year for upper-division courses.
Some of those students will come through dual-enrollment agreements the college will create with Cascadia and Shoreline community colleges, allowing students to simultaneously take lower- and upper-division classes.
Agreements with other community colleges, including Everett Community College, would be added later.
Under the new law, the branch campus can directly admit freshmen and sophomores only to lower-division courses not already offered at local community colleges.
UW Bothell and Cascadia Community College share a campus, and Cascadia looks forward to hammering out the details of the agreement with its neighbor, interim college President Brinton Sprague said.
The benefits go beyond access, Sprague said. “As the campus grows … we’re simply going to be able to offer a wider range of programs to our community.”
Leaders at all levels of higher education have been concerned about a bulge of high school graduates on the horizon. State lawmakers estimate Washington will have 22,000 more college students than enrollment spots by 2008.
The University of Washington last fall turned away 1,300 qualified freshmen from King and Snohomish counties alone, Drew said.
While having four-year status will chip away at the problem, it doesn’t mean the Bothell branch will start looking like its big sister in Seattle. The top priority for branch campuses remains serving local community college transfer students and graduate students.
As part of its long-range plan, UW Bothell plans to grow from 1,300 students to 6,000 students by 2020. The school primarily serves students in King County, with 27 percent of its students living in Snohomish County.
Melissa Slager is a writer for The Herald in Everett.
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