WGU enrollment grows by 200 a month

Weeds and teens don't grow as fast as Western Governors University.

This past week the Internet-based school celebrated moving into 16,000 square feet of office space at 4001 S. 700 East.

"We expect to outgrow this space as well in the next year or two," WGU President Robert Mendenhall said.

That's because the school, founded four years ago by the governors of 19 Western states, is growing by about 10 percent or 200 students each month. There are now about 1,800 students from all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and eight different countries.

It's a private, virtual school, one where students take classes in business, information technology or teacher education from their home or office computers. WGU offers associate, bachelor and master's degrees. Faculty or "mentors," who guide students through their course work, operate out of 18 states.

Tuition is about $4,800 for a 12-month year and the school receives no state funding. More than $20 million of WGU's financing, however, has come from federal sources, and 24 different corporate sponsors generate millions more.

Mendenhall credits Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, with funneling funds through Washington. Gov. Olene Walker is now state government's most powerful booster, picking up where former Gov. Mike Leavitt left off. It was Leavitt who was instrumental in getting Utah involved with the university.

The political support is there, Mendenhall said, because WGU is viewed as an "engine" for producing economic development and educating teachers — about 200 teachers are enrolled in a K-12 program.

Moving out of the "scattered" 14,000-square-foot facility in Holladay will cost WGU about 75 percent more in rent, but it's considered an investment in the future.

"In a sense it's only a building," Mendenhall said. "In another sense it's a celebration of the progress over the past four years." WGU, he added, has become an "accepted" university on a national level.

The new digs for the Utah branch of WGU will house administrators, mentors, counselors and the marketing, admissions and financial aid departments. As WGU grows in Utah, the plan is to expand to other floors at the new location and possibly take over the entire building as more staff and faculty are added.

To learn more about WGU, visit the Web site at www.wgu.edu.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com