Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A 12 percent increase in new freshmen pushed Mississippi State's fall enrollment to 16,101, up by 167 students from last year.
The 1,966 first-time freshmen outnumber last year's newcomers by 213 and make up the largest entering class at the Starkville university since 2000.
Also at the 127-year-old land-grant institution:
--About 77 percent of new freshmen and 77 percent of all students are Mississippi residents;
--African-Americans make up 19.5 percent of the total; and
--The student body is 51.5 percent male and 48.5 percent female.
This fall's unduplicated headcount includes 14,395 students on the Starkville campus, 723 at the Meridian Campus, 923 enrolled exclusively in online courses, and 60 in graduate centers at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis and at the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg.
MSU also saw growth in graduate and professional students, who total 3,546 this fall. The number of international students continued a decline that began after 2001, dropping to 574 this year.
Fall semester classes began Aug. 18 and this fall's preliminary headcount was calculated Sept. 2, following the last day to drop a class without receiving a grade.
Although regular registration for the semester ended Aug. 24, MSU continues to accept students who had planned to attend fall classes at institutions disrupted by last week's Hurricane Katrina.
Displaced students must enroll no later than Friday [Sept. 9] and begin classes by Monday [the 12th].
Late-enrolling students displaced by the hurricane will not be included in official fall enrollment figures.