Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

A Radford University student walks past the central fountain on the Radford campus Tuesday. Radford's president has blamed the enrollment drop on the economy, among other things.

RADFORD -- Out of 15 four-year state-supported colleges and universities that report enrollment figures to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, only Radford University posted a decline this fall.

The numbers were available on the council's Web site this week.

Radford's enrollment fell by 252 students, for an overall reduction of 2.8 percent of the student body, according to the commission.

For every 100 students enrollment drops off, the university loses about $510,000 in revenue from tuition, university faculty senator Tricia Easterling told the senate at a meeting Tuesday.

The shortfall adds to a $6.4 million budget cut recently imposed on the university by Gov. Tim Kaine. Kaine cut all university budgets by up to 15 percent to help offset a $1.35 billion state budget shortfall.

Most of Radford's peer schools, such as George Mason University and Old Dominion University, posted gains in enrollment this fall.

Enrollment at three universities -- Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary -- remained flat, according the council.

Radford President Penelope Kyle first announced the expected drop in students at the annual faculty convocation in August.

Kyle has attributed the drop to two main issues: a down economy and a lack of experienced admissions personnel.

Three of the top admissions staff quit last year and were not replaced.

A substantial number of Radford students are the first in their families to go to college, Kyle has said. Families of that student demographic have been hard hit by layoffs and other economic factors, she said.

Kyle speculated at the convocation that many of those students may have gone to community colleges.

Virginia Tech's enrollment was flat this year, but the school did dip into its waiting list to fill spots. Kyle said some of those waiting list students might have in other years come to Radford.

Also at the convocation, Kyle announced the hiring of Steven Nape as vice provost of enrollment planning and management.

Since his hiring, Nape has worked to reverse the downward trend, university spokesman Jeff Douglas said.

Radford will soon roll out an upgraded admissions Web site. Nape has also implemented new marketing and recruitment programs, Douglas said.

In an e-mail Tuesday, Nape wrote that Radford is making good progress in increasing enrollment for the coming year.

Applications are up by about 50 percent over last year at this time, and up about 10 percent over two years ago, when Radford enrolled a freshman class of about 1,875 -- "a near record high," Nape wrote.

Student interest and on-campus visits are also up, he wrote.

Explore the enrollment data at tinyurl.com/ykf2725.