(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – With a 3 percent increase in students over the same time a year ago, the University of Central Missouri is experiencing a record spring 2013 enrollment.

As of the mid-February census, 11,879 students are enrolled at UCM for the current semester, an increase of 341 students over spring 2012. The total represents a larger number of graduate, undergraduate, full-time, part-time and minority students.

“We are encouraged by this strong evidence that significant actions to grow our enrollment have been effective this year,” said Deborah Curtis, university provost and chief learning officer. “In these challenging fiscal times, UCM continues to provide an affordable and high-quality opportunity for our students,”

Undergraduate student enrollment is 9,607, up 2.9 percent, and graduate enrollment is 2,272, a 3 percent increase. The number of full-time students, 7,996, is almost 1 percent higher than a year ago, and there was a 7.7 percent increase in part-time students. Hispanic student enrollment is up 14.7 percent, with 288 individuals taking UCM classes, and the number African American students climbed 2.2 percent with 804 students enrolled.

The university’s recent enhanced efforts to meet the educational needs of military personnel has contributed to a 4.2 percent increase in the number of active duty military and veteran students attending UCM. This semester, 566 individuals who receive military benefits are enrolled.

According to the data, at least five different university academic areas experienced more than 10 percent growth in graduate and undergraduate enrollment, and contributed to a total of 177 more students this spring compared to 2012. These academic areas are as follows: Crisis and Disaster Management, 27.9 percent; Math and Computer Science, 25.3 percent; Career and Technology Education, 18.2 percent; Communication and Sociology, 11.8 percent; and Theatre and Dance, 11 percent.