Mississippi State University’s enrollment has reached a record high according to preliminary fall 2008 admissions data. The university now has 17,824 students, an increase of 4.6 percent from the previous school year, the highest increase of any university in the state.
Philip Bonfanti, director of admissions and scholarships, said the rise in enrollment is due in part to high retention rates among sophomores and upperclassman and a larger than normal freshmen class.
“The large increase in enrollment both this year and last can be attributed to both increases in retention rates and increases in the size of the freshman class,” Bonfanti said. “Retention rates have increased in part because Mississippi State continues to build a challenging but supportive academic environment for our students.”
Compared to the 2007-08 school year, this year’s freshman class grew by 9 percent.
Adding to the freshman class growth, retention for returning sophomores is now 84.5 percent, a rise of 1.1 percent from last year.
The sharp rise in students is one of the highest increases in the Southeast.
First year transfer student Frank Ross said he chose MSU because he felt comfortable with the environment and enjoy the landscape.
“I chose to come to State after viewing several colleges, and this university is physically the best looking,” Ross said. “I felt more at home here than anywhere else.”
Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs, said students are picking Mississippi State because of its amenities and reputation.
“[The university] has the best residence halls in the region,” Kibler said. “MSU, we believe, is a ‘hot’ school … [there is] much positive news about Mississippi State.”
With the student population passing the 17,000 mark for the first time, students have become concerned with the possibility of overcrowding or the lack of facilities to house those newly enrolled.
Sophomore marketing major Takeea Phillips said she has noticed the increase in new students at MSU, especially their impact on parking.
“The parking on campus is absolutely a result of the increased enrollment at MSU,” Phillips said. “I arrive to campus about 15 minutes earlier before my classes just to find a parking spot.”
Kibler said that the university has planned for such rises in enrollment and that new initiatives are underway to deal with future increases in population.
“I believe the university is ready for and is handling the increase,” he said. “We are planning to build a new residence hall…[renovating] three classroom buildings. We also recently renovated or built a larger bookstore, Union and dining facilities.”
The College of Arts and Sciences remains the university’s largest with over 4,000 students.
The colleges of education, business and engineering follow respectively.
MSU’s satellite campus in Meridian also received a gain in enrollment.
Presently, there are 782 students enrolled at the Meridian campus.
Enrollment numbers released from Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning also showed increases at the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Universities citing a decrease in enrollment were Alcorn State University, Delta State University and Mississippi University for Women.
Overall, enrollment at Mississippi universities is up one-half percent, the fourteenth consecutive year of such an increase.
As the university with the largest growth rate in the state, Bonfanti said that MSU is currently the choice for higher education in the South.
“Mississippi State is an excellent university, and our enrollment growth over the past two years shows that we are not only the people’s university, but the people’s choice,” he said.