[283]MTSU SPRING ENROLLMENT (22,516) JUMPS 4% FROM 2008

Release date: Jan. 30, 2009


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
Enrollment Services contacts: Dr. Debra Sells, 615-898-2440
Dr. Sherian Huddleston, 615-898-2828

MTSU SPRING ENROLLMENT (22,516) JUMPS 4% FROM 2008
Overall Increases in New Students (8.5%), Graduate Population (16.8%) Show Growth

(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU’s preliminary spring enrollment total of 22,516 students registered and taking classes is a 4 percent increase from January 2008 when 21,648 students were attending, Sherian Huddleston, associate vice provost for Enrollment Services, said Thursday.
Preliminary numbers supplied from the Office of Records show an overall increase of 868 students. After the 14-day census period that ended Jan. 28 and final edits, MTSU’s headcount totals will be submitted to the Tennessee Board of Regents within the next week, Huddleston said.
“We’re very pleased with these figures,” said Dr. Debra Sells, vice provost
for enrollment services and vice president for student affairs. “We believe they reflect our continuing efforts to both successfully retain our current students as well as recruit the very best new students in the state. In these difficult economic times, I think our students and their families recognize that an MTSU education is a sound investment that will pay big dividends over time.”
In specific areas such as total graduate population, MTSU’s College of Graduate Studies has a 16.8 percent increase from spring 2008 when 2,223 grad students were taking classes. This spring’s total is 2,597, which is an increase of 374 students.
Huddleston reports an 8.5 percent increase in new students (1,461 new undergraduate and grad students this semester compared to 1,347 in January 2008).
“They’re making great strides in graduate enrollment,” Huddleston said of the College of Graduate Studies.
Huddleston said the spring enrollment “traditionally is going to be less than the fall enrollment because of December graduation and attrition.” Records reported 1,517 undergraduates and grad students graduated Dec. 13.
A record 23, 872 students attended last fall. This spring’s head count is 94 percent of the final fall enrollment submitted to TBR, Huddleston said.








Charting MTSU’s spring enrollment*


Category Spring 2009 Spring 2008
Total enrollment 22,516 21,648
First-time freshmen 203 200
New transfers 894 837
New undergraduates 1,124 1,057
New grad students 337 290
Re-enrollees 1,275 1,225
Total undergraduate population 19,919 19,425
Total graduate population 2,597 2,223

* — Preliminary totals. After final edits, the Office of Records will submit this and additional enrollment data to the Tennessee Board of Regents.


For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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