University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville enrollment exceeds 27,000 this fall

Enrollment at the University of Arkansas now exceeds 27,000 students for the first time. Preliminary numbers show that 27,065 students have registered for the fall semester. The university’s total freshmen class, with 5,022 students registered, is also a new record.

The total number of students from Arkansas enrolled at the UA continues to grow, with 15,166 Arkansans registered so far, including 2,466 Arkansans registered as a part of the freshman class, a slight increase from the 2,432 freshmen from Arkansas who enrolled in 2015.

Students from outside the state continue to be attracted to the university in large numbers. However, the recruitment of this class reflects efforts to reach Chancellor Joe Steinmetz’s stated goal for the university to work to admit “more Arkansans than we ever have before” while always aiming for a 50-50 balance of in-state and out-of-state students.

“The university made a concerted effort to increase the number of Arkansas students in this freshman class,” said Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions. “We did this while enhancing the academic quality of this class, which comes to the university with a record overall high school grade point average of 3.68, and an ACT score average of 26.3. In this freshman class 25% of the students are in the top 10%t of their high school classes, and more than half of them are in the top 25.”

The university is assessing future goals for growth and what the campus can support, especially from the perspectives of student services and the number and quality of needed staff. The university kept this year’s growth to 1%, as opposed to 2% last year. UA enrollment has increased by nearly 51% since 2006.

The university is required by state law to take an official enrollment snapshot on the 11th day of classes, which falls on Sept. 6 this year, and will announce official enrollment figures later that week.