HOUGHTON – Enrollment at Michigan Technological University for the 2016-17 school year is growing, which pleases Les Cook, vice president for student affairs and advancement.

At the MTU Board meeting Friday in the Memorial Union Building, Cook said the enrollment this year is 7,268.

“It’s the largest we’ve had since 1983,” he said.

Female enrollment has been increasing since 2005, and this year at 29 percent, it’s at an all-time high, Cook said.

If this trend continues, he said, “in 2045, we’d be at 40 percent.”

Cook said various individual categories of enrollment numbers are doing well, also, including under-represented groups and students who claim to be multiracial.

American students at Tech are coming from as far away as Alaska, Cook said, and 76 percent are from Michigan.

One area which isn’t increasing at Tech is with student retention, Cook said. Last year, 83 percent of students returned, but this year 82.8 percent returned.

Student experience is one aspect retention, and Cook said the university makes an effort to make students’ time at Tech enjoyable with various activities, such as the cardboard boat race.

Cook said graduates of Tech do well getting jobs when they leave the university.

“I think our students know if they come to Michigan Tech, they’re going to be successful and get a job,” he said.

Cook said the university’s fundraising efforts are continuing, and a recent $25 million from an anonymous donor helped those efforts. It’s the largest private donation in university history.

Last year, Cook said the plan was to raise $35 million, and $40 million was raised.