Earlier this month, Oakland University officials announced a 4.1 percent increase in the fall 2009 student enrollment, surpassing the projected increase of only 1 percent.

Now at a total of 18,967 students enrolled for the fall semester, the question is what the unexpected increase means for the OU budget.

The general fund budget was passed in July 2009 based on a 1 percent increase in enrollment, resulting in the 9 percent tuition increase.

Vice president of finance and administration John Beaghan said in a previous interview that the university did balance the budget with tuition.

The administration also anticipated the expected 3 percent decrease in state funding, however one-time federal stimulus funding is predicted to be used to fill that deficit.

Beaghan said it is too early to tell what will happen with the enrollment and budget situations, due to the ongoing state budget discussions.

“We are still waiting on the state budget situation to settle down, and are not yet confident that we will receive any federal stimulus funding,” Beaghan said. “There is also potential for mid-year state funding cuts that we are weary of.”

Revisions of OU’s budget are at a standstill, awaiting the final decisions on the state’s budget.

The interim state budget is effective until Saturday, Oct. 31.

The governor’s office reported the higher education budget is still under review, and will be addressed this week.

Laura Schartman, director of Institutional Research and Assessment at OU, believes that the current trend is hard to predict because students enrolling are not just students fresh out of high school, but also transfers students, graduate students, as well as non-traditional students.

“It’s a mixed demographic. There are fewer students graduating from high school; the fact that our freshman enrollment is growing in a shrinking pool makes it hard to tell,” Schartman said.

University Technology Services director of systems engineering, Stephen Glowacki, reported that the university is already expecting a higher number for winter enrollment.

The increase in students could be partially to blame for the recent issues with the OU SAIL registration system.

According to Glowacki, the system slowed down in part due to a higher number than was expected of students registering at start times.