Abby Sanford/The Minaret
The final figures are in for this year’s enrollment count, and, as was predicted in recent months, the numbers are larger than ever.
According to The University of Tampa website, this year’s enrollment totals a record 6,291 graduate and undergraduate students, up 8.65 percent from last year’s total, which was 5,790.
The university welcomed 1,869 new undergraduates this year, including 1,413 freshmen.
This year’s acceptance rate was 61 percent for first-year applicants.
“UT has been very fortunate that it gains in popularity and esteem nationally and internationally,” wrote Dennis Nostrand, vice president for enrollment.
“This has lead to larger freshmen classes every year for the past 13 years.”
Overall undergraduate enrollment is at its highest ever, totaling 5,546 students. This is an 8.3 percent increase from last year’s undergraduate enrollment.
Nostrand said the 8.3 percent growth is not only due to this year’s large freshmen class, but also due to older classes graduating and larger, new classes moving through the system.
He also said that like undergraduate enrollment, graduate enrollment has been growing significantly over the past ten years.
This year, the university accommodates 745 graduate students, an 11.1 percent increase from last year.
“During a difficult economy many students continue on for a master’s degree rather than entering a difficult job market,” wrote Nostrand.
“This factor combined with high unemployment and people looking for ways to distinguish themselves usually leads to students returning to school for certificates or degrees.”
Though the university is proud of its ability to continually attract more students, Nostrand said UT doesn’t want to set another enrollment such as this for next year.
“The university hopes to bring in a class that is at least ten percent smaller next year,” he wrote. “The university, however, is committed to maintain the personal touch, small class sizes and relatively the same teacher to student ratio as in past years.”
