ISU Marking Enrollment Milestones
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana State University is touting its largest student population in more than 40 years. The school says more than 13,000 are currently enrolled. That figure includes ISU's largest freshman class in history. August 27, 2014
News Release
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Enrollment at Indiana State University has increased for the sixth straight year. This year's student headcount of 13,183 is 2,731 ahead of the fall 2008 class and is the largest in the last 42 years.
The past five years have seen the five largest classes of new freshmen in the school’s 147-year history. This year's class of 2,739 new freshmen broke a record set just four years ago. This year is also tied with last year at 300 new honors students, which represents 11 percent of the class. Nearly 1,000 students are honors students at State.
“It takes a great number of dedicated people and strategic planning to recruit a new class each year, especially as competition has increased for traditional age students,” said John Beacon, vice president of enrollment management, marketing and communications. “Not only are we seeing a record size freshman class, but the number of Indiana students in the class increased 8 percent to a record 2,367, or more than 86 percent of the total.”
Total enrollment grew 5.9 percent this fall, freshman enrollment grew 3 percent, SAT scores of new students are up and the number of laptop scholarship recipients reached 1,449, an increase of 677 from when the laptop program began in 2006. Laptop scholarships require students to have a minimum 3.0 high school grade point average to qualify.
Graduate student increased 5.6 percent to 2,302, setting a record for the second straight year. Enrollment of international students has increased by 18.5 percent to nearly 1,100. The university is also experiencing an increase in Indiana State Online classes and the enrollment of new transfer students has exceeded 700 for the past five years
“The entire university has worked very hard to address our strategic goal of improving enrollment and student success,” said university President Dan Bradley. “It is gratifying to see that the majority of our growth this year is in returning students. This means that more students are making progress toward obtaining a degree. That is great news.”
Initial reports indicate a growth in retention of at-risk students, Bradley added.
“The student success initiatives across the university, including the Center for Student Success and the University College, are making an impact.”
As a new class begins their enrollment this fall, applications are already being received for fall 2015.
“It is an exciting time to be at Indiana State University as we experience unprecedented consecutive years of growth across so many populations,” said Beacon. “Indiana State is a destination for many Indiana students and for students from throughout the Midwest and overseas. The university is clearly on track to achieve its goal of serving 14,000 students by 2017.”
Source: Indiana State University