Contact: Joe Farris
Mississippi State University's fall semester enrollment is a record for higher education in the state, with more than 14,000 students on the Starkville campus and almost 15,000 enrolled statewide.
A total of 14,066 students are taking classes on the main campus. This is an increase from last year of 489, or 3.6 percent, and 200 more than the previous record set in 1992. Including the Meridian Campus and other off-campus centers, Mississippi State's total fall enrollment is 14,862.
This year's influx of new students also is the largest in university history, with 3,271 new freshmen and transfer students enrolled.
Freshman enrollment alone is up 3.3 percent from last year. The freshman class includes 62 National Merit and National Achievement scholars, a 40 percent increase from last year. The average ACT /SAT composite score of the freshmen is 23.7, up from last fall's average of 23.1.
African-American enrollment also is at an all-time high, with 2,090 black students enrolled on the main campus--up by 31 from last fall--and a statewide total of 2,204. Graduate student numbers also set records, with 2,328 enrolled at Starkville and 2,681 at all locations.
More than 78 percent of this fall's students--11,645 of them--are Mississippi residents.
"Mississippi State University is both excited and grateful," said President Donald Zacharias. "We are excited to have established this campus and state enrollment record and appreciative of the confidence that tremendous numbers of students and parents have placed in this institution.
"All of this is a grand prelude to setting records in learning and academic excellence," he added.