Record fall enrollment at Arkansas State University

Arkansas State University set a new record with a preliminary fall enrollment with 14,903 students on the 11th day of classes, Chancellor Todd Shields said.

“This university is poised for great things in the upcoming years,” Shields said. “The more our state learns about the awesome opportunities here at A-State, the more students will choose to come to Jonesboro and become Red Wolves.”

A-State’s previous all-time fall preliminary head count was 14,144 from fall 2017. The fall 2023 tally is a 6% jump from last fall’s 14,107 students.

“We are the outstanding value for cost of attendance and the cost of living, but that’s not why more and more students are selecting A-State,” Shields said. “I’ve been here just over a year, and I can tell you there isn’t any place like A-State.”

With the state’s first public College of Veterinary Medicine on track to open soon, Arkansas State will become the only campus in Arkansas to host both a medical and veterinary school, a biosciences institute, operate an international campus and the state’s largest graduate school.

“There aren’t many Carnegie Research 2 universities where a first-year student who wants to get into a research lab can do so easily, and even fewer where that same researcher is likely teaching introductory courses and exciting students about their fields,” Shields said.

A-State saw growth across almost all categories, but was notably up in first-time first-year students and the number of students who chose to live in on-campus housing. The 1,608 new students included 163 international students, up 60 students from last fall, and 1,445 domestic first-year students, up from last fall’s 1,185. Overall, the class of first-time students was up 20% compared to 2022.

The number of students living on campus is 2,933, the highest occupancy with University Housing in the post-pandemic period.

“I know I said this last year about how alive campus was, but it’s moved to another level this fall,” Shields said. “The campus is bustling, full of energy and that’s a great feeling.”

Concurrent high school enrollment was up 5% with 700 students enrolled in courses with A-State from across the Northeast Arkansas region. The back-to-back enrollments over 14,000 for 2022 and 2023 marked a first in the post-pandemic period.