9/08/06 Contact: Katie Wilder (334) 844-2994 (wildeka@auburn.edu)
David Granger (334) 844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

AU ENROLLMENT AT ALL-TIME HIGH
Freshman Minority Enrollment Up 17 Percent

AUBURN - Auburn University’s fall semester enrollment is at an all-time high and applications to the university continue to increase, according to numbers released by AU’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

AU’s total enrollment of 23,547 exceeds its previous record of 23,333 set last fall. In addition to this record, AU received an unprecedented 15,921 applications for fall semester 2006 from new freshmen, a 12 percent increase from the 14,249 applications received for fall semester 2005.

“Indicators for Auburn’s future are very bright and our record enrollment is an example of that,” said AU President Ed Richardson. “These numbers are evidence that there is still a great demand for an Auburn education. In fact, our demand for 2007 is already exceeding what we would have expected.”

A record 691 minority freshmen enrolled fall semester represents a 17 percent increase over last year’s 574 minority freshmen enrolled. Of those 691 freshmen minorities, 481 are African American, an increase over last year’s 398 African American freshmen.

The total number of freshmen enrolled is 4,092, down slightly from last year’s record of 4,197.

“While the number of new freshmen enrolled for fall 2006 is less than our all-time high from last year, that number reflects the university’s desire to manage our enrollment to match our available resources,” said John Fletcher, AU’s assistant vice president for enrollment management services.

AU enrolled 2,472 new freshmen from in-state, a slight increase over the 2,468 in-state freshmen last fall and 1,620 out-of-state new freshmen compared to last fall’s 1,729.

AU’s freshman class averages a 24.3 ACT score and a 3.56 high school grade-point average.

Fletcher attributed the increase in overall enrollment partially to an increase in the number of transfer students enrolled. AU enrolled 1,278 new transfer students, an increase from 1,057 enrolled last year.

Fletcher also cited AU’s ranking among the top 50 public institutions for the 14th consecutive year by U.S. News and World Report as an important factor leading to increased enrollment.

Other fall semester enrollment numbers include 19,367 undergraduates, up from 19,254 last year; 935 first-year professional (veterinary medicine and pharmacy) students, up from 910 last year; and 3,245 graduate students, up from 3,169 last year.

The numbers reported Thursday are official enrollment numbers, calculated after the 15th class day of every fall semester.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,500 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Katie Wilder.)

###

sept06:AU-enrollment06