UNL fall enrollment up 2.2 percent to 24,100 -- highest in 14 years

With 24,100 students enrolled in the fall semester 2009, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has recorded its highest enrollment since 1995. The enrollment, which represents a 2.2 percent increase over fall 2008, was reported today to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

Of the 527 students who comprise the increase, 429 are undergraduate students, 91 are graduate students and seven are in professional colleges. Transfer headcount increased by 51, a 5.3 percent increase. The total number of first-time freshmen declined by 214, a 5.1 percent decrease. This is the first drop in new students for the fall that UNL has experienced since 2004.

Alan Cerveny, UNL's dean of Admissions, said he was pleased with the overall numbers and noted that this year's entering freshman class is significantly larger than the class that graduated in May, meaning UNL's enrollment is still trending in a positive direction.

"This has been a very good year, particularly given the impact of the economy and a decline this year in the number of graduating high school seniors in Nebraska," Cerveny said. "Our enrollment increase highlights what a great job the university is doing in retaining students (meaning students who persisted from year to year). More students are graduating with bachelor's degrees from UNL in recent years than at any time in the university's 140-year history."

Cerveny said the big story is that for the eighth straight year, the freshman class profile increased. This freshman class ACT composite average is 25.4, a significant improvement over last year's record high of 25.03.

"I told Chancellor (Harvey) Perlman that I did not think there is any university in the country that can boast that long-term trend and statistic," Cerveny said.

Cerveny also noted the number of new freshmen from the university's metropolitan Omaha market. "For the first time ever, we enrolled more than 1,000 new freshmen from metro Omaha," he said.

Other highlights from the official 2009 UNL census reported today to the Board of Regents:

* With 1,787 minority students, UNL has enrolled the largest percent of minority undergraduate students, 9.4 percent, in its history.

* Nonresident enrollments increased by 3.3 percent overall; 2.2 percent at the undergraduate level. Nonresident students now account for 23.7 percent of all students at UNL. "We are still in our infancy in really developing our efforts in national markets," Cerveny said. "We need to work to increase our out of state numbers as they will be critically important to UNL going forward."

* Most academic colleges experienced enrollment growth, led by the College of Arts and Sciences (up 551 students, 13 percent); the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (up 116 students, 7.1 percent); and the College of Education Sciences and Human Sciences (up 173 students, 6.3 percent).

* Graduate enrollment stands at 4,591, a 2 percent increase and a 10-year high.

* Professional enrollment of 554, a 1.3 percent increase, also represents a 10-year high. Professional students enroll in programs in architecture, education and human sciences, law and veterinary medicine.

* UNL recorded 298,610 student credit hours, the highest number in the history of the institution. Student-credit-hours are the aggregated number of credits taken by students.

* The proportion of full-time undergraduate students increased to 93.5 percent, from 93.3 percent last year.

The fall semester registrations are reported annually to the provost of the NU system, based on six-day census figures from each campus's Institutional Research and Planning office. For more details, see www.nebraska.edu.