Missouri State University sets enrollment record

Fall enrollment figures are in for Missouri State University, with a record 22,938 students on the roster.

That figure, based on data collected on the 20th day of classes, includes 20,842 students at the Springfield campus and 2,162 at the West Plains campus; 66 are enrolled at both campuses but were only counted once, according to a news release.

The university's head count is up 1,250 compared to last year's total of 21,688.

On the Springfield campus, there were increases in every major new student category:

• In college for the first time, up 56 students, 2.2 percent, to 2,588;

• New transfer students, up 253, or 19.3 percent, to 1,564;

• New degree-seeking graduate students, up 61, or 10 percent, to 673; and

• New nondegree students (undergraduate and graduate combined), up 101, or 34.8 percent, to 391.

Increased retention of entering freshmen contributed to the enrollment increase. Of the first-time, full-time freshmen who began in fall 2008, 76 percent returned for the fall semester this year, up 3 percent from the comparable rate for freshmen in fall 2007.

The total enrollment of degree-seeking undergraduate students, including new, returning, and readmitted students, is 15,270, up 500 from last year, MSU said.

Enrollment in West Plains is up by 1,834 students, or 18 percent compared to last year's record final enrollment number.

"These enrollment records are exciting news for Missouri State University. To realize the gains we did in every new student category speaks to the success of the university in attracting and retaining students in our growing array of academic programs," MSU President Michael T. Nietzel said in the release. "I salute the faculty and the staff for a job well done, and I welcome the nearly 23,000 students now enrolled at the institution."