FAYETTEVILLE -- Total enrollment increased to a record 27,194 students this fall at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, with UA-Fayetteville enrolling its largest-ever freshman class of 4,967 first-time, degree-seeking students, according to the university's preliminary enrollment report.
Elsewhere, enrollment also increased at Arkansas State University but declined at three other large public universities: the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Central Arkansas at Conway and Arkansas Tech University at Russellville.
The preliminary numbers, as of the 11th day of classes, for UA continued a trend of overall enrollment growth that a few years ago placed the university among the fastest-growing public research universities in the country.
But that was largely driven by out-of-state students.
Now enrollment growth has slowed, and in putting together this fall's freshman class, UA decided to put the brakes on out-of-state recruitment and what could have been a larger freshman class in order to help ensure Arkansans made up about half of the total, said Suzanne McCray, UA's vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions.
She said that out of the freshman total, 49 percent, or 2,434, were in-state students, according to preliminary data. The out-of-state total includes 52 international students.
UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz has said colleges turn to tuition dollars from enrollment growth for support during an era of declining state support.
But he's also said he wants to hold the line as far as the percentage of out-of-state undergraduates, with a 50-50 split acceptable. In a statement Thursday, he noted that UA was only a handful of students away from that mark.
"I think we can do better but we simply need more financial aid for Arkansans," Steinmetz said. "I don't think it's any secret that increasing the number of need-based scholarships is one of my top priorities. We want more Arkansas students to enroll and we can make that happen with additional support for scholarships for Arkansans."
The 1.1 percent increase in the size of the first-time, degree-seeking freshman class, to 4,967 from 4,915, was the smallest increase in freshmen since fall 2013, when the number of first-year students decreased.
In fall 2013, the state reduced its Academic Challenge Scholarship award, leading to a smaller number of Arkansans enrolling at UA, McCray said.
This fall, the first-year Academic Challenge Scholarship also decreased. McCray said UA provided more scholarships to freshman Arkansans, in part to offset the decrease. The first-year award was reduced to $1,000 from $2,000, though state lawmakers increased award amounts in other years so students qualifying for all four years of the award would receive the same amount of financial support.
In March, UA announced it was boosting scholarship awards for in-state students by $300,000.
Total enrollment increased 1.7 percent compared with last year's 26,754 students. Last year, total enrollment increased by 2 percent compared with fall 2014, when 26,237 students enrolled. The yearly growth was 3.5 percent in fall 2014, up from 25,341 students.
After a dip last year, UA-Fayetteville enrolled more Arkansans. The total number of in-state students increased to 15,282 this fall from 15,237 last fall, a rise of less than a half-percent.
At least one school outpaced UA-Fayetteville in total enrollment growth.
Arkansas State University-Jonesboro reported a total enrollment increase of 5 percent, with 14,074 students compared with 13,410 last fall.
In 2014, UA-Fayetteville ranked seventh among the fastest-growing U.S. public research institutions offering doctoral degrees, according to an analysis of 2002 through 2012 conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Compared with fall 2008, UA has added 8,000 students.
Other large public universities in the state saw enrollment decreases. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock saw total enrollment drop to 11,678 from 11,891, a decline of 1.9 percent, according to preliminary numbers, spokesman Allen Hicks said.
Enrollment at the University of Central Arkansas fell to 11,487 from 11,754, a dip of 2.3 percent. Arkansas Tech University also saw a total enrollment decline, to 11,893 from 12,054, a drop of 1.3 percent, at its Russellville and Ozark campuses.
Metro on 09/09/2016