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Sept.
11, 2001 (Lexington, Ky.) -- The University
of Kentucky today reported record enrollment of 32,549
students for the fall semester 2001, an increase of
4.8 percent over the previous year.
The all-time high enrollment for the undergraduate
and professional colleges, UK Chandler Medical Center
colleges and Lexington Community College includes
increases in virtually all academic areas and a 10.2
percent surge in the Graduate School.
"We couldn't be happier about the student demand
for our academic services. It reflects very highly
on the first-class quality we know this university
already has attained," said UK President Lee T. Todd
Jr.
The Graduate School enrolled 5,572 students, up 518
over the previous year. Acting Provost Michael Nietzel
attributed much of the jump in Graduate School enrollments
to two sources -- a program dubbed GIFT (Graduate
Incentive Free Tuition), which gave any college graduate
in Kentucky the opportunity to sample a free three-hour
graduate school course in the spring 2001 semester
and the Kentucky Graduates Scholarship program in
which outstanding students from outside Kentucky were
given special tuition scholarships.
"GIFT turned out to be extremely successful," Nietzel
said. He added that 23 percent of those students who
took the free course last spring returned to enroll
in for additional graduate study this fall.
The quality and the quantity of the fall 2001 freshman
class showed gains with 3,064 students enrolled compared
with 2,928 the previous year, an increase of about
4.6 percent and another UK enrollment record. The
class includes 125 Governor's Scholars, 132 high school
class valedictorians, 49 National Merit Scholars and
two National Achievement Scholars.
The middle 50 percent of the ACT scores of the entering
freshmen shows a composite of 22-27, above the national
averages of 18-24 and equal to UK benchmarks Ohio
State, Purdue, Iowa and Minnesota.
Also in the freshman class are 339 students who have
advanced placement (AP) credit, a predictor for a
student's academic success at the college level. AP
courses are high school classes in which test scores
can be precisely compared across the nation.
Nietzel noted the number and percentage of African-American
students enrolled in the Graduate School also climbed
from 242 in 2000 to 305 in 2001. "We are very pleased
with this growth in the enrollment of African-American
students." Nietzel said.
The total number of African-American students in
the university increased from 1,318 in 2000 to 1,332
this fall.
Lexington Community College continues its growth.
LCC is up another 8 percent in enrollment with 7,791
students. The Winchester Road branch has doubled in
enrollment this year and the new South campus is up
19 percent with more than 1,400 students.
The preliminary figures show that increased enrollment
is prevalent in virtually every academic area. The
numbers may change modestly as students are added
or withdraw in the next few weeks, but based on previous
years' enrollments, trends are expected to remain
close to the preliminary figures.
Final numbers will be reported to the Council on
Postsecondary Education Nov. 1.
Areas with notable enrollment increases include arts
and sciences, business and economics, communications
and information studies, education, human environmental
sciences and nursing.
In other examples of enrollment growth, the UK College
of Pharmacy has enrolled the largest first-year class
in its history. Among the graduate and professional
academic areas reporting substantial growth are engineering,
medicine and business and economics. The number of
female students in the freshman class outpaced the
number of male students (53 to 47 percent).
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