ASU’s student total on 11th day at 14,058; first-year freshmen up

Arkansas State University said Wednesday its headcount enrollment for the 11th day of classes for the fall semester is 14,058 students, a slight decrease from a year ago.

But its first-year student count improved and retention from freshmen to sophomore years increased.

The enrollment data released Wednesday includes students signed up for classes on the main campus in Jonesboro and at Campus Queretaro, which is in Mexico.

ASU, a public university based primarily in the northeast part of the state, is usually second largest in enrollment among Arkansas’ colleges and universities. The institution is part of the Arkansas State University System. The New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine is on the Jonesboro campus but is not included in enrollment numbers for ASU. The state of Arkansas does not fund Campus Queretaro.

The numbers of students at the nation’s colleges and universities are affected by several factors, including institutions with improved graduation rates, Census figures for students in a particular age group increasing or decreasing, and the general state of the economy.

Enrollment matters because student semester credit hours are part of the funding formula for state aid in Arkansas and the number of students provides revenue for colleges and universities in the form of tuition and fees paid by students. Tuition and fees represent most schools’ largest source of revenue.

The data released Wednesday marks a small decline in the overall number of ASU students. Last year, for the 11th class day, ASU said it had 14,144 students.

ASU Chancellor Kelly Damphousse attributed the overall decline, in part, to larger graduation classes. The university handed out 4,746 degrees, a record high, in 2017-18.

He added that having a small freshman class in 2017 and retaining less than three-quarters of the fall 2016 class affected the overall count. He said those numbers “will linger in our data for a couple more years” as the student group moves toward graduation.

But the university had a larger one-year increase in freshmen.

ASU reported 1,565 firsttime, first-year students, an increase of 9.7 percent from 1,426 students in fall 2017.

Damphousse attributed that increase in large part to the staff’s revitalized efforts to recruit and retain students.

“It takes a lot of work to increase your freshman class as much as we did in one year,” he said.

ASU tabulated that 76.6 percent of the fall 2017 firstyear group returned for a second year. That percentage is the highest in ASU history. A year ago, 72.8 percent of the students returned for their sophomore year. Damphousse said that the university’s first-year retention goal is 85 percent.

Other enrollment statistics include:

■ Student transfers increased from 662 last year to 802 this year.

■ The incoming Class of 2022 had an average composite ACT college entrance exam score of 24.0 (tying a previous high mark) and a composite high school gradepoint average of 3.56 (the highest ASU has ever had). ■ The number of first-year students who are black increased from 131 to 161.

■ The number of first-year students who are Hispanic increased from 48 to 71.