MTSU enrollment tops 26,000 on The Murfreesboro Post

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MTSU enrollment tops 26,000

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Posted: Thursday, September 23, 2010 9:44 am

MTSU’s tremendous growth pattern continues as yet another record number of students is taking regular and online courses this fall, Enrollment Services officials said Sept. 20.

MTSU’s total fall enrollment of 26,430 students registered is 1,242 more than were registered in 2009 – a 4.93 percent increase from the 25,188 students taking classes a year ago. The fall census data recently was submitted to the Tennessee Board of Regents.

“The large increase continues to reflect the outstanding academic programs available to students attending MTSU,” said Dr. Deb Sells, vice president for Student Affairs and vice provost for Enrollment Services.

“In addition to our quality academic programs,” Sells added, “we continue to hear from students and parents that they are also attracted to MTSU because of our small class sizes and individual attention that our students get from faculty and staff throughout the university.

There are a total of 23,401 undergraduates and 3,029 graduate students enrolled. Also, there are 6,447 students – 3,684 undergrads and 2,763 grad students – taking classes part time.

New records were set in the following categories: first-time freshmen (3,777); new transfers (2,254); total new undergrads (6,057); total new students (6,785); returning freshmen (1,960), juniors (4,038) and seniors (6,203); and others.

“The big improvement is in students crossing the junior and senior thresholds in much larger numbers (6.29 percent and 8.12 percent increases, respectively), which is a signal more students are getting closer to successfully graduating,” Sells said.

There also are more returning master’s candidates (1,572), more total returning grad students (1,976) and total returnees (17,938) than ever before, the information from the Office of Enrollment Technical Systems reveals.

Sells said another trend of note is that “our percentage of minority students continues to increase, with minorities making up 23.28 percent of the total student body – that’s an increase of a full percentage point over last year. African-American students make up 17.15 percent of our total enrollment, an increase of 12.65 percent over 2009.”

Crediting the entire campus, Sells said all are to be commended for the efforts that have led to these increases.

“The whole university — enrollment management staff, faculty and other administrators and staff — have worked overtime to help each student make a smooth and efficient transition to the university, improving every part of their experience from processing of admissions applications, to answering financial aid questions, to attending the CUSTOMS orientation program, to receiving quality academic advising,” she said.

Tagged under MTSU

Member Opinions:

By: yogiman on 9/23/10
WOW! It ain't like it was when I was there. We had only 900 students back then.

Ah yes, the times they are a changing.

By: dgl2h_mtsu_f10 on 9/24/10
It’s great to learn that Middle Tennessee State University is growing in such large numbers! The university has so much to offer it is no wonder it is increasing so rapidly. MTSU has great academic programs, especially those housed in the College of Mass Communications. The Recording Industry major with concentrations in Audio Production, Music Business, and the recently added Commercial Songwriting is considered to be the most popular. There seems to be more diversity on campus with people from different areas of the state of Tennessee as well as surrounding states and regions. I have also noticed more vehicles parked during irregular business hours such as during the regular school week after 5 pm when students and faculty may be taking evening classes and/or studying later but live off campus. Also there are more cars (and people) left over the weekend this semester than there were last year. Those who transition from farther distances than the surrounding counties, cities, and towns of Middle Tennessee do not travel back home as often. While MTSU is very much a commuter school and many people live off campus, the benefit of MTSU is that students, faculty, and staff are able to experience a large university that possesses a small college appeal.