Growth continues at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, with another record-setting enrollment this fall of 26,301 students, university officials said Wednesday.
"Since 2008 we have added more than 7,000 students to our campus without any decline in academic caliber," Chancellor G. David Gearhart said at a news conference held at UA's Arkansas Union. Gearhart said test scores on college entrance exams have improved since 2008, with a 43 percent increase in the number of students with ACT scores of 30 or higher.
Enrollment numbers remain preliminary, with a final fall total calculated after the 11th day of classes as required by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. The preliminary enrollment represents a 3.8 percent increase over the previous year.
Elsewhere in the state, preliminary enrollment numbers show a decline of 5.6 percent from last year at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, which reported 11,681 students on the 11th day of classes. Arkansas State University at Jonesboro reported 13,135 students enrolled on the 11th day of classes, a 3.1 percent decrease from last year.
But the number of students at the University of Central Arkansas at Conway rose this year, with 11,705 students on the ninth day of classes, a 1.6 percent increase from a year ago, according to preliminary numbers.
Officials at some of the largest public universities in surrounding states, including Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the University of Texas at Austin, did not have fall semester enrollment numbers available for public release Wednesday. But the University of Missouri at Columbia reported a record 34,935 students on the first day of classes.
Growth at UA-Fayetteville stands out nationally, with the university ranked seventh among public universities granting doctoral degrees, according to a recent analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education that focused on the 10-year period from 2002-12.
"There is no question that we have grown quickly over the last several years, and, of course, this is not by accident, but part of a long-term plan that we put in place to increase the size, the diversity, the quality and the academic reputation of the University of Arkansas," Gearhart said.
The growth has been fueled by out-of-state students, mostly from Texas, according to information on UA's website. In 2008, when UA's total enrollment was 19,194, nearly seven out of every 10 students was from Arkansas. Now, it's down to nearly six out of every 10 students.
Last year, only about half of the incoming freshman class hailed from Arkansas. However, Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment management and dean of admissions, on Wednesday said this fall's record-setting freshman class has more Arkansans.
The number of Arkansans increased by 11.3 percent over last year, translating into an additional 250 students in the freshman class, McCray said. "We are again pleased to have every county in Arkansas represented in this incoming class," she added.
The 4,579-student class of degree-seeking freshmen has 240 students more than last year's class and five students more than the previous record, which was set in 2012.
"We're not sure what to make of it, but 55 percent of the freshman class are women. Last year we were 50-50," McCray said.
Undergraduate enrollment increased by 4.2 percent, to 21,903. Graduate enrollment, not including the law school, increased by 1.9 percent, to 4,018. Law school enrollment is 380 students.
The university also released information showing an increase in students enrolled in online coursework, with 7,444 students enrolled in one or more online classes -- about six times more than were enrolled back in 2008 and a 21.6 percent increase compared with last year.
As far as diversity, UA released data showing that compared with 2009, the number of black students has increased by 28 percent to 1,333 students. About one in every 20 UA students is black. Enrollment by Hispanics increased by about 140 percent over the same period to 1,676.
Gearhart also repeated UA's goal of boosting graduation rates to 70 percent by 2021, the university's sesquicentennial year. The latest numbers released this year show a six-year graduation rate of 59.8 percent at UA, a dip compared with the 60.1 percent graduation rate calculated last year.
UA's graduation rate "leads the state among public universities and colleges, but we are not satisfied," Gearhart said. "We are committed to reaching 70 percent by 2021."
Gearhart noted that UA has put in place new initiatives to help boost graduation rates. Among them are enhanced advising for students and a course launched last fall called University Perspectives: Destination Graduation "to keep incoming freshman focused on success and graduation."
He also referred to another UA goal: to be among the top 50 public research universities.
"We believe that improving graduation rates and academic quality while ensuring that faculty resources keep pace with growth and needs will propel us into the top 50 status," Gearhart said. "The ranking will then be a byproduct of doing better across many, many fronts. Regardless of what happens, we will be operating more efficiently. We will be creating more graduates and having an even bigger impact on our great state."
Metro on 09/04/2014