TTU marks record high enrollment for second consecutive year

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 4, 2002) -- A new all-time high enrollment count of 8, 890 students marks the second year in a row Tennessee Tech University has announced record growth.

Exceeding last year's record of 8, 653, the final census taken after the Labor Day weekend shows the largest total of new undergraduates to enter Tennessee Tech since the university began keeping detailed counts. The combination of new freshmen and transfer students this fall totals 2,000.

Graduate enrollment at TTU also reached an all-time high with 1,639 students, up 85 students from last year's count.

The university broke another record after tallying a more than 2.4 percent increase in full-time equivalent enrollment, another method of counting registered students. FTE, a way to group part-time students so that the number of hours they are taking represents a full-time class load, equaled 7,554 this fall. The all-time high FTE count replaces the previous high of 7,475 set in 1992.

Of the total 7,251 undergraduates, slightly more than 20 percent are majoring in engineering. Two other groups, business administration majors and arts and sciences majors, each account for more than 19 percent of the total. Almost 18 percent of undergraduates are majoring in education.

Other Tennessee Board of Regents' four-year universities have reported an average increase of 1.77 percent in headcount enrollment over last fall. Tennessee Tech's final numbers are ahead of that average at 2.7 percent.

--Karen Lykins

This information posted 9 September 2002