Arkansas State University fall enrollment up 5%

Arkansas State University enrolled a record setting number of students this fall. ASU had at least 14,074 students register for class, a 5% increase from 2015, according to the school. The previous enrollment high was 13,900 set in 2011.

“This is a credit to our enrollment management team that has worked the past two years to create a strategy of steady, sustainable growth,” acting Chancellor and Provost Lynita Cooksey said.

ASU also had a record for full-time equivalent enrollment with 10,096, just edging the previous high of 10,095 from Fall 2012. The FTE is a key Arkansas funding benchmark and is up 2.4% from last year, according to the school. The composite ACT score of the incoming freshmen was 23.6, just shy of the record 23.9 in 2014. The composite high school GPA was 3.48, also just below the 2015 record of 3.51.

Adding more and qualified students is good, but student retention numbers are critical to any major college or university’s success, Cooksey said. ASU retained a record 65.3 % of full-time students who spent their freshman and sophomore years at the school. ASU also had a near record one-year retention rate with 74.9%, just off last year’s record 76%.