UNO Enrollment Data Highlights Efforts to Support Workforce Development

Partnerships with area businesses and organizations are driving significant growth in enrollment within graduate programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), according to new enrollment data released today.

UNO’s graduate enrollment is the highest in the school’s history for the second straight year. This growth has been driven primarily by UNO’s “Career Currency” program which works to expand opportunities for working professionals at participating Omaha-area businesses and organizations to pursue degrees.

Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA, who is entering her first academic year at UNO as UNO’s 16^th Chancellor, praised the innovative program. “These partnerships demonstrate the need for an institutional partner like UNO to help develop Nebraska’s workforce, and I take great pride in the fact that Omaha’s urban university is doing just that and moving the state forward,” Chancellor Li said.

Through such partnerships, enrollment in graduate programs has grown particularly within UNO’s College of Business Administration and College of Information Science & Technology, to meet the evolving workforce needs of the community and the state. Enrollment through the Career Currency program grew by nearly 50 percent compared to Fall 2020.

Unlike traditional tuition reimbursement programs often offered by employers, learners from companies such as Union Pacific, Omaha Public Power District, and Werner Enterprises are able to utilize the Career Currency program to take classes at UNO without paying for tuition up-front.

Overall Enrollment Notes

In Fall 2020, UNO saw its largest student body in nearly 30 years. Overall enrollment at UNO fell slightly in the Fall 2021 semester to 15,325, or about a 3.6 percent decrease compared to Fall 2020.

Highlights include:

• Students completing more than twice as many semester credit hours in-person this fall as UNO returns to a pre-pandemic level of activity on-campus
• About 4 out of every 10 Mavericks is a first-generation student
• More than 1,700 military-affiliated students
• Students from 49 states and 70 countries, bringing the global community to UNO’s campus
• Many students continuing to take advantage of courses offered through hybrid or totally online modalities
• Strong representation among minority students, including increases among graduate students
• Two of UNO’s colleges saw increases in enrollment driven primarily by graduate students