UW branches set to open at two sites

The University of Washington branch campuses in Tacoma and the Bothell/Woodinville area will open their classroom doors for the first time Oct. 1. Both branches are housed in temporary quarters. In Tacoma, the classrooms are in the Perkins Building in downtown Tacoma. In the Bothell/Woodinville region, the branch is located in the Canyon Park Business Center off Highway 527 north of Bothell.

Each branch will initially offer courses at the junior and senior levels leading to an interdisciplinary degree in the humanities and social sciences. The programs are targeted for part-time students and courses are offered in the late afternoon and evening. UW officials hope to begin professional programs in engineering and nursing at the branches in 1991, if funded by the state.

At the end of July, about 229 students have applied to the Tacoma branch and about 134 to the Bothell campus, according to Mike Magie, director of academic affairs for branch campuses. In addition, applications continue to come in and will be accepted for fall quarter until enrollment targets are reached. Administrators hope to enroll 400 students at each campus the first quarter.

Prospective students, Magie says, are “very much” following expected demographics: people in their 30s and 40s (a majority of them women), who were in college 10 to 20 years ago, are now working and looking for an opportunity to finish their degrees.

The Tacoma branch, which is expected to grow somewhat faster than Bothell, has the advantage of being placed in a larger, urban center familiar to many of its prospective students. The Bothell branch is designed to serve residents from Everett to Issaquah who may not immediately identify it as the regional hub. However, both branches have received more than 2,000 requests for applications and Magie expects both to reach the same enrollment level during their first year of operation.

If application trends follow experiences at community colleges, both branches can expect a flood of applications after Labor Day. Shoreline Community College President Ron Bell told the press in June, “Most of those students come crashing in the door right after Labor Day. I think what you’re going to find is they’ll be deluged with applications.”