Mississippi State reports another record enrollment

Mississippi State has set its third consecutive enrollment record with 15,714 students taking classes this fall.

The total includes 14,897 students at the university's main campus in Starkville and 737 at the Meridian Campus. The remaining students are enrolled in graduate programs at Vicksburg and Stennis Space Center at Bay St. Louis.

"We're pleased with the size and quality of the student body we've attracted this year," said President Malcolm Portera. "This is another indication that students and their parents from throughout Mississippi and beyond recognize the educational value available here."

The addition of significant new funding this year to add instructional positions will help accommodate the record numbers of students, Portera said.

"We gained almost 1,300 students from 1995 to 1997, and that pace of growth was beginning to strain our resources," Portera said. "We are approaching the point at which we'll need to give serious thought to how much larger we can become consistent with the resources available and our commitment to quality in all that we do."

This fall's ACT scores of entering freshmen increased from last year to an average of 23.5. Also:

• African-American enrollment is up by 145 to 2,507, or 16 percent of total enrollment.

• This fall's entering freshman class of 1,980 students is the third largest in university history. The university also welcomed almost 1,400 transfer students and almost 600 new graduate students.

• Enrollment at the Starkville campus is up by 109 and overall enrollment is up by 69 students.

• Almost 77 percent of this fall's students are Mississippi residents and more than 82 percent are undergraduates.

• Graduate enrollment is at an all-time high with more than 2,800 students.