The largest freshman class in 10 years entered Tennessee Tech University this fall, according to enrollment numbers released after the fall census.

The new high, 1,485 first-time freshmen, topped the old figure of 1,388 in 2003. Combined with the 632 undergraduates who transferred to Tennessee Tech this fall, new freshmen and transfers add up to 2,117 new undergraduates on campus this fall, also a 10-year high.

“Although applications were slightly down about 1 percent from last year, we were delighted that 63 percent of those students who applied came to TTU,” says Rebecca Tolbert, associate vice president for Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management. “That’s higher than average and reflects our efforts to nurture prospective students.

“Applicants received information and phone calls from telecounselors, and a majority of SOAR attendees who came to campus for orientation returned to enroll this fall as first-time freshmen,” Tolbert says. “We are tremendously pleased to see our transfer student numbers up also."

Overall, we're seeing enrollment reach an all-time high for the fourth year in a row. Total enrollment now stands at 9,217, up 1.2 percent over last year’s 9,107. The total includes 7,224 undergraduates and 1,993 graduate students. According to preliminary numbers, the average enrollment increase for Tennessee Board of Regents universities was 3.9 percent.

“Our percentage of growth was lower than we expected, and without more analysis we do not know how lottery scholarships affected the choices made by students,” says Tolbert.

Total graduate student enrollment increased more than 8 percent over last year, bolstered by a 20.2 percent increase in new graduate students. The total number of undergraduates decreased slightly, by less than 1 percent.

More undergraduates, 1,576, chose the College of Arts and Sciences than any other major, followed respectively by the College of Engineering (1,432), College of Education (1,330), and College of Business Administration (1,316).