Bacone College President Dr. Robert Duncan hopes to start a third fall semester in a row with more than 1,000 students enrolled.

Classes began Monday at Bacone, though enrollment for regular classes does not close until Aug. 22.

There will be an extended enrollment through Sept. 1 for students participating in the V.D. Weeks program to earn 12 credits in 12 weeks. Duncan said the program is for students “who either did not get their applications in on time, did not end up at the school of their choice or who need to improve their academics.

Enrollment figures for the past 10 years show that Bacone enrollment topped 1,000 in 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2007. The highest fall enrollment was in 2006 with 1,081. Enrollment for fall 2007 was 1,012.

Duncan said Bacone finished the 2008 year with the largest spring enrollment on record: 979, compared to 955 in 2007 and 874 in 2006.

“We’re hoping for 1,000 students this fall,” he said Monday. “All returning students were supposed to move in on campus Sunday, but we still had some this morning.”

Cherelle Baker, a senior from Okay, said she is taking a light class load this year, but that won’t mean she won’t be busy.

“I’ll be doing a lot of clinical time,” she said, adding that she expects to spend her clinical time at St. John Medical Center or Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa.

Carl Jensen, a freshman from Texarkana, Texas, said he came to Bacone on a 35 percent baseball scholarship.

“I like Bacone because it is rooted in a Native American heritage,” said Jensen, who is of Ogallala Sioux, Cherokee and Cheyenne descent.

Freshman Matt Borum of Kingston, near Durant, also came on a baseball scholarship.

“People said a lot of good things about this college, that it’s real laid back and there are not very many kids in a classroom and the teachers know your name,” said Borum, who plans to major in sports management and business.

Duncan said the extended enrollment period is a “great alternative for those students who may have applied too late.”