495 MTSU’S FALL ’06 ENROLLMENT FORECAST:

Date: June 28, 2006

Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Enrollment Services contacts: Dr. Bob Glenn, 615-898-2440 and
Dr. Sherian Huddleston, 615-898-2828


(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU is projected to reach and pass the 23,000 mark for student enrollment – a university milestone – when final, permanent totals are sent to the Tennessee Board of Regents during the week of Sept. 11, MTSU officials said today.
“We will be very close to 23,200,” Dr. Bob Glenn, vice provost for enrollment management, said in discussing the projections. “We might be a little above it or we might be a little below it, but we will be close. Percentage-wise, we are right at 3 percent over the previous year. We are about where we wanted to be so we are pleased with it.”
Glenn’s comments came following the release of the fall ’06 enrollment forecast by Dr. David Penn, director, Business and Economic Research Center for the Jennings A. Jones College of Business.
“The forecast is where we wanted it to be,” said Glenn, who also serves as vice president for student affairs. “As always, David has done an exceptional job of analyzing the available data. He has been working on the forecast for quite some time.”
“Our estimate for fall 2006 undergraduate enrollment is 20,919, an increase of 530 students from fall 2005 figures,” Penn wrote in his final summary.
“When you add in graduate enrollment, that number comes to 23,084,” Glenn said. “My assumption is that we will have some growth in graduate student enrollment.”
Glenn, who lauded the efforts of many MTSU personnel for their work to achieve the increase, said that the next two CUSTOMS (orientation sessions) are above capacity and it is likely that the remaining sessions in July will also be at or above capacity.”
Penn’s findings reveal that Davidson (22.9 percent), Cheatham (20.2%), Rutherford (14.7%), Wilson (12.8%) and Williamson (7.3%) counties “experienced over-the-year increases of 7 percent or more” in students attending MTSU.
Another finding: “The number of first-time freshmen is expected to increase to 3,481, a gain of 273 from fall ’05,” Penn said.
Rutherford County’s predicted increase will be 136 students with Davidson (41) Williamson (37), Wilson (32) and Hamilton (11) counties completing the top five.

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