ST. BONAVENTURE - More than 470 freshmen said good-bye to their parents and hello to college life Thursday as St. Bonaventure University opened the 2009 fall semester.

St. Bonaventure officials said classes don’t resume until Monday, but freshmen began two days of programming Thursday, called Welcome Days, to help get them acclimated to campus.

Officials said the most cherished moment of Welcome Days is the traditional candlelight ceremony on the steps of De La Roche Hall, a ritual the students will repeat in four years on Commencement Weekend. The ceremony was held Thursday night.

Fall student-athletes and residence-life leaders have been on campus for some time, but the vast majority of upperclassmen will return to campus Saturday and Sunday, officials said.

“The joy of Welcome Days is seeing that cold enrollment figure turn into the warm reality of human faces,” said Sister Margaret Carney, university president. “It’s a remarkable moment to see these students - children really - excited, apprehensive and full of hope and to know, from seeing it so many times before, how much they will grow into extraordinary young men and women four years from now.”

At the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (Pa.), campus officials said that while the institution won’t have a final audit of enrollment until Sept. 22, the numbers are expected to be high for all groups of students.

Pitt-Bradford officials said they expect to have record-high numbers of entering freshmen, transfer students, full-time equivalent students, total new students and total students overall. 

When Dr. John M. Anderson welcomed students back to Alfred State recently, he lauded the community’s recruitment efforts, which resulted in exceeding the college’s enrollment target for this academic year by 100 students.

St. Bonaventure officials said there are approximately 100 fewer incoming freshman than last year. The total number of students or returning students was unavailable Thursday.

Officials at Alfred University said students began returning to campus last week and classes began this week. No enrollment numbers were available.