By: Samuel Letchworth
The UA might someday have to buy the entire city of Fayetteville if it wants to keep its promise to inscribe the names of all its graduates on Senior Walk because enrollment just keeps growing.
The UA Office of Admissions announced that a new record high of nearly 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled for the fall semester. The official enrollment of 19,849 students represents a 3.4 percent increase over the previous year, and is one of the largest increases in recent history for the university, according to admissions officials.
Photography by Larry Ash
“I am extremely pleased with this year’s enrollment figures,” Chancellor G. David Gearhart said. “Coming close to the 20,000 level is most significant and is certainly a vote of confidence in our faculty, our quality programs and the overall university. We want to grow our numbers, and this is certainly a step in the right direction.
“Much of the credit for this goes to our college deans and outstanding faculty,” he said. “They are the ones who create the environment of academic excellence that attracts students, not only from Arkansas but from all over the nation and the world.”
Total undergraduate enrollment is up 2.7 percent to 15,835 students, and total graduate enrollment is up 7.3 percent to 3,616 students. Enrollment at the law school is unchanged at 398 students.
Minority enrollment now makes up 14.3 percent of the student population, according to the report. African-American students make up the largest minority group, with 1,040 enrollees or 5.2 percent of the student population. Hispanic, Asian-American, American Indian and Hawaiian students each make up less than 5 percent of the total student population.
Those figures are similar to the demographic makeup of the state of Arkansas except for the African-American population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, African Americans make up 15.8 percent of Arkansas’ population, compared with the 5.2 percent of African-American students at the UA.
“It was kind of a culture shock,” said Eddie Williams, a sophomore and an African American. “I came from Little Rock and was used to there being a lot more black people.”
According to the report, men make up 51.4 percent of the student body, while 48.6 percent of the students are women, a figure that hasn’t changed much over the years.
The UA is soon to release figures regarding total non-traditional, traditional, senior citizen and veteran enrollment statistics.
“I can tell you that veteran enrollment is certainly up,” said Suzanne McCray, dean of admissions at the UA. “We are very excited about that.”
Veterans will have an easier time paying for a college degree under a new program at the UA.
According to the Office of Admissions, the school is partnering with the Yellow Ribbon Program, which makes tuition assistance available to men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces after Sept. 10, 2001.
The university will fund 10 students with up to $1,200 a year.
But in other respects, veterans don’t have it so easy.
“It’s hard making the transition from soldier to student,” commented Jerry Dean Williams, an Iraq War Army veteran and a freshman at the UA. “You’re not a civilian anymore. You forget how the real world works.”
Williams completed two tours and spent 26 months in Iraq as a field medic. He came to the UA from Maryland to be closer to his son and to become a nurse.
“The VA is really helpful,” Williams said. “And honestly, I’m on a high for school. If I had a headline for my life right now, it would read, ‘Soldier Considers Suicide, Goes to College Instead.’”
Kyle Adams is a senior business major. He is an Air Force veteran and a non-traditional student.
“It has been a wonderful experience,” said Adams, rubbing the peace-sign tattoo on his calf. “There have been setbacks. I never had a college fund or scholarships. I’ve had to balance supporting myself with making the grades. But places like the Enhanced Learning Center have made school so much more manageable for me.”