The University of Rhode Island has enrolled its biggest freshman class — about 3,240 incoming students — making it the second consecutive year the university has reported an increase.

The growth, an increase of 250 freshmen over last year, is part of the university’s effort to expand to 13,000 undergraduates by 2009. This year, URI will come close to 12,000 undergraduates. It also has 2,800 graduate students.

A URI tour guide talks to a group of visiting parents and their children as they tour the campus. URI is preparing for its largest incoming class.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

The increase is the result of a stepped-up campaign by URI. The university has increased marketing and expanded its recruiting beyond New England, New Jersey and New York to include Pennsylvania and Maryland. It has also made concerted efforts to reach out to potential students, including expanding “enroll-a-thon” nights when faculty call prospective freshmen and having student volunteers take part in online chats on campus life and classes with accepted freshmen.

The university’s “yield rate” — the number of accepted students who actually attend — has grown to 28 percent.

“We sent out more targeted e-mails to students who were accepted, and we added many messages from department chairs and deans,” said Cynthia Bonn, dean of undergraduate admissions. “We sent out about 60 different types of e-mails to the 11,000 students we admitted.”

The university has more high school students visiting its campus than ever before. Last July, 928 prospective students toured, with 422 participating in information sessions, Bonn said. So far this month, 1,200 prospective students have visited, with 715 attending information sessions.

URI is not alone. Rhode Island’s other two public colleges, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island, are also reporting larger incoming classes this year.

Jack Warner, Rhode Island’s commissioner of higher education, says the growth is necessary if Rhode Island is to keep pace with Massachusetts and Connecticut, where 35 percent of the working population has a college degree. Just 29 percent of working adults in Rhode Island have a degree.

“What everybody understands is the essence of the new economy is intellectual capital,” Warner said. “It’s not a coincidence that the median household income is also higher in Massachusetts and Connecticut.”

Enrollments may be up at Rhode Island’s public colleges because, despite a 6-percent increase in tuition and fees, the state schools remain an attractive alternative to the high cost of private colleges.

“Our numbers are at all-time record highs and we think part of the reason is the value and affordability we offer,” said Holly Shadoian, RIC’s director of undergraduate admissions. “When we talk about students spending upwards of $40,000 a year for undergraduate education, we say, ‘Save your money for an expensive graduate school.’ ”

In-state tuition and fees at RIC total $5,256 a year; out-of-state students pay $13,664, and on campus room and board cost an additional $8,000 a year.

So far, 2,203 freshmen and transfer students have sent deposits in to RIC, an increase of about 150 students over last July. About 19 percent of RIC’s freshmen will come from out of state, up from 17 percent last year, an increase Shadoian credits with more aggressive recruiting outside of RIC’s core feeder states in the Northeast.

Traditionally a commuter school, the college has a new dormitory with 367 more beds for undergraduates, bringing the total of dorm beds to about 1,200, said RIC spokeswoman Jane Fusco.

Enrollment at CCRI’s four campuses is up almost 10 percent over last summer, said spokeswoman Kristen Cyr. As of July 16, 10,552 students had enrolled throughout system, compared with 9,615 at this time last year. Because the community college does not require a deposit, as most four-year institutions do, and because many students register just before classes begin, CCRI officials expect those numbers to continue to rise. Last year, about 16,000 students attended the community college.

URI OFFICIALS say they are prepared for the large freshman class. Three new dormitories with a total of 800 beds for upperclassmen have opened on the Kingston campus in the past year, freeing up more space in the older residence halls for freshmen and sophomores, said Robert A. Weygand, vice president for administration. Over the past several years, the university has spent about $65 million to upgrade the older dorms, one at a time.

“For the first time in a while, we will have all our housing stock on line,” Weygand said.

He estimates the university will have about 4,800 beds in the residence halls, plus about 800 beds provided by fraternities and sororities. URI costs about $17,767 a year for in-state students who live on campus; out-of-state students who live on campus pay $32,621. For the coming school year, 53 percent of freshmen are from out of state, compared with 49 percent last year.

Officials say they have been able to accept more students without diluting academic standards. For example, the average SAT score stayed stable — 1,638 out of 2,400 possible points, roughly the same as last year’s 1,641, Bonn said.

The university is adding extra sections of popular classes to accommodate the additional students, said Lynn Pasquerella, vice provost for academic affairs.

Some of the highest demand courses are in communication and film studies, writing, chemistry and basic general education courses.URI has also hired 23 instructors in various departments, as well as a couple of student advisers this year.

“We’re also very concerned with retention and completion rates, so to fail to provide the resources necessary for students to complete the curriculum, would undermine our efforts to serve the needs of the students,” Pasquerella said.

A SAMPLING of some private colleges in the area paints a varied picture of enrollment growth.

Providence College, for example, is already operating slightly over capacity and is not looking to expand further, said Chris Lydon, associate vice president for enrollment.

This year’s incoming class will stretch the Dominican college’s dormitory space, as about 985 freshmen have accepted, and the college was estimating about 960 would attend, Lydon said. The college has about 3,850 undergraduates.

“We will turn some lounges into extra rooms,” Lydon said, and some double rooms will become triples, to accommodate the extra freshmen.

PC received 9,801 applications for the 2007-2008 school year, up about 1,000 from last year, Lydon said. The college has a yield rate of about 25 percent, and accepted about 70 students off its wait list of 850.

Salve Regina University is also at capacity, with 2,100 undergraduates and 500 graduate students, and has no plans to grow, said Colleen Emerson, dean of undergraduate admission. It expects about 560 to 570 freshmen this fall. The university costs about $35,000 a year for tuition and fees, room and board.

“We have seen significant increases in applications, however, with a 12-percent increase this year and a 15-percent increase last year,” Emerson said. She attributes the increase to higher academic standards and the trend toward applying to more colleges than students have in the past.

Johnson & Wales University, in contrast, decided to reduce its freshman class by 250 students, down to 2,753 this fall, said spokeswoman Lisa Pelosi.

“It was a deliberate effort to be more strategic,” Pelosi said. “We want to match up how students will succeed with the programs we have, and we wanted to offer more financial aid.”

jjordan@projo.com