Enrollment in Ohio's public colleges and universities has increased for the second consecutive year, according to the Ohio Board of Regents.

Applications for admission to Miami are up 55 percent from fall 2007, according to Director of Admission Laurie Koehler.

She said the university has been working hard to get the message out about the quality and value of a Miami education.

"We like to think it means more students are excited about Miami and that's a really good thing," Koehler said.

She also said an essay was removed from the supplement of the application, which may be why applications are up at this point in the year and students are choosing to complete the application earlier.

In the fall of 2008, Miami saw more than a 4 percent increase in enrollment.

In applicants for the class of 2012, Miami saw 30 percent of prospective students accept offers of admission, whereas only 29 percent of applicants for the class of 2011 accepted offers, according to Koehler.

"We saw a slightly larger first-year class this year than our target and some of that was because we saw our yield rate go up by one percentage point, which makes a difference," Koehler said. "To move yield up or down by one or two percent sounds like a small number, but (it) is actually a sizeable jump."

According to Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, enrollment in universities is up statewide, increasing 2.3 percent from 2007 and 1.9 percent between 2006-07. The enrollment rate was flat from 2005-06 and there was a decrease from 2004-05.

Fingerhut said the increase is part of Ohio's larger strategic plan for higher education, which he and Gov. Ted Strickland designed.

"Today we have about 480,000 students enrolled in public universities and community colleges in Ohio," Fingerhut said. "In 10 years we hope to have over 710,000."

Fingerhut said it was the board's strategic plan to enroll 230,000 more students in public universities and community colleges in Ohio within the next 10 years.

"People are starting to understand the need for more education to get a good job," Fingerhut said.

Fingerhut said he thinks most of this growth will take place in community colleges and branch campuses of public universities because they are more affordable. He said an increase in first-year and transfer students will be seen in public universities as well.

Miami specifically has seen an increase in transfer students, according to Koehler.

Miami enrolled 278 transfer students in the fall of 2008, up from 240 in 2007, but Koehler said predicting enrollment for the coming years will be tricky given the state of the economy.

Fingerhut said Ohio is seeing growth in enrollment for both in-state and out-of-state students.

"We hope to become more of a magnet for talent outside of Ohio," Fingerhut said. "We're increasing internship opportunities and have many good jobs for students here in our state, so we hope they stay."

Fingerhut said Miami has the largest percentage of out-of-state students of any of the university in Ohio.

"Miami has a world-class academic program and an undergraduate program that's second to none," Fingerhut said.

He added that schools will need to be prepared to see in an increase in enrollment.

"There's no question that there will need to be updating and modernizing across the state," Fingerhut said. "We are anticipating that."

One thing Miami will be keeping in mind with the increase in enrollment is the sophomore housing requirement, in addition to the role the economy will play, according to Koehler.

"These are the issues we talk about when trying to set the targets for the year," Koehler said. "Everyone has been very sensitive to that and thoughtful about the fact that students will be on campus. We want to make sure there's a level of housing availability maintained."

Other reasons the Ohio Board of Regents cited in relation to the enrollment increase are Ohio's tuition freeze, the partnership between the state's public colleges and universities and an increase in resources for non-traditional students.