Murray State's latest enrollment numbers show an uptick in new freshmen but an overall decline of about 2%. This is largely due to a decline in full-time graduate and international students (demographics that have overlap).
Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management Fred Dietz presented preliminary findings to the Board of Regents during a retreat meeting this week. The implementation of new admission standards for incoming freshmen went into effect this fall and enrollment numbers are around 1,500, a 2.5% increase over last year. Dietz said the new standards brought in a "strong freshmen class" with higher overall ACT scores and class rank.
First-time transfer enrollment is overall flat or slightly down - a trend paired with an overall decline in community college enrollment.
The largest drop in enrollment came from first-time graduate students, down about 21%. Acting Provost Dr. Renae Duncan said there are two general reasons for this. The number of graduate level education degrees are down largely due to the University of the Cumberlands offering an online master's level program at a rate difficult for public universities to compete. The other factor is a drop in international enrollment (many of whom are grad students) due to countries pulling back sponsorships, for example in Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
University officials say the larger freshmen class will help increase quantity measures in future years. Retention rates are slightly up in fall 2016.
Preliminary total enrollment for fall 2016 is 10,486.
Final numbers will be be released in October.
