Tech continues to upward trend in enrollment numbers

The Associated Press

RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University announced Friday that it has about 7,500 students on campus this fall, the 10th consecutive year the campus has seen its enrollment grow.

The increase from last year is small — from 7,480 students to 7,498 — but the campus has seen its student numbers rise 88 percent since 1997.

“Today marks a noteworthy milestone in the life of Arkansas Tech University,” Arkansas Tech President Robert C. Brown said. “The collaborative efforts of many during the strategic planning process of 1995 charted a course for our institution. It was decided that we would implement moderately selective admissions standards and attempt to grow our university in a thoughtful and deliberate way. That plan and the dedicated manner in which it has been carried out by our faculty and staff have yielded a decade of continuous growth.”

The 7,498 students are at Tech campuses in Russellville and Ozark.

Brown said Tech is part of the state’s effort to lead more students enrolling in college.

“Arkansas does not need more college students, it needs more college graduates,” Brown said. “By admitting only those students who have demonstrated an ability to persist toward graduation, we are utilizing our resources to meet our mandate from the state of Arkansas in a responsible and efficient manner.”

Tech has produced 10,361 graduates since 2000.

The Arkansas Tech freshman class of 2008 has an average ACT score of 22.86. This year marks the 14th consecutive fall in which the Arkansas Tech freshman class has had an average ACT score above the state and national averages, and the 22.86 average score is the best for any Tech freshman class in history.

The most popular majors among Tech freshmen this year are nursing, mechanical engineering, management and marketing, early childhood education, health and physical education and pre-medicine.

Tech is working to increase student housing, with two new residence halls and renovations to others. The school this year has 2,335 students living in 15 university residential facilities. The on-campus student population at Arkansas Tech has nearly tripled in the past 12 years from 785 in 1996.