With more than 16,530 students attending Mississippi State, the state's largest university is recording a fifth consecutive record enrollment this fall.

Enrollment on the Starkville campus is up 494 students, to 15,764, while Meridian Campus enrollment is up slightly to 721. The remaining students are in graduate programs at Vicksburg or at the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis.

Among the 2,012 new freshmen are 38 National Merit Scholars and two students with perfect scores of 36 on the ACT exam. African-Americans make up 22 percent of the new freshmen class, which is the second-largest in university history.

"We're working hard to provide the opportunities and challenges needed by the state's top high school graduates, and it's clear that they are responding in increasing numbers to what is available here." said President Malcolm Portera.

During the past year, Mississippi State has increased its number of full-time instructional faculty, expanded library holdings, and opened a major new classroom building.

The number of incoming undergraduate transfer students is up to a near-record 1,669. Traditionally, about half of Mississippi State's graduates begin their college careers at another institution.

"We're very appreciative of the state's excellent system of community colleges and the vital role they play in providing higher education in Mississippi." Portera said. "They're helping to ensure that all prospective college students have the opportunity to go as far as their abilities will take them.

This fall's enrollment also includes an increase in returning students. "That's a good indication that we're making progress in our effort to improve retention and graduation rates," Portera said. A university goal is to increase the graduation rate to at least 60 percent from the current rate of 50 percent.

MSU's total headcount enrollment stands at 16,534, an increase of 458 over last year. Total African-American enrollment also is up again, to 2,998 students, or 18 percent of total enrollment.

About 76 percent of this fall's students are Mississippi residents and about 82 percent are undergraduates. Graduate student enrollments totals 3,045.

"It's apparent that the demand for higher education in Mississippi is strong and growing," Portera said. "We're doing our best to ensure quality while keeping pace with the demands of increasing numbers, but our challenge is to get better, not bigger.

"Overall, the academic qualifications of our freshmen are quite good, but we need to do a better job of helping prospective students understand what it will take to succeed here", he added.

Mississippi State has adopted a policy of focusing recruiting efforts on better-prepared students and more closely monitoring academically at-risk students to improve their chances of staying in school.

"We're telling students who have either a high school grade-point average of 2.5 on their core courses or an ACT score of 21 that they have a good chance of being successful at Mississippi State," Portera said. "We're telling those who don't have at least one of those indicators of potential for success that their odds of earning a degree from Mississippi State are not as good, based on years of experience and observation."

Actual admission requirements at Mississippi State are the same as those for all state universities, and are set by the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning.

Starting in fall 2001, students admitted to MSU who can't present either a 2.5 high school grade average on the required core courses or an ACT score of at least 21 will be advised by the University Academic Advising Center for their first 30 hours of basic courses. Those students also will be restricted to a class load of 12 to 15 hours, including a basic study skills course.

The deadline for applying for MSU admission for fall 2001 will be April 1. Highly qualified students may gain early acceptance and notification by applying by Dec. 1, 2000.