Record enrollment hits fourth year with 3,700 enrolled for fall

Janel Shoun | 

2010 brought the fourth record-breaking year in enrollment at Lipscomb University with 3,742 students enrolled in the fall semester, according to numbers which became official on the 14th day of the semester.

 
The 2010 numbers continue a trend of increasing enrollment begun in 2005. The university’s overall enrollment has jumped nearly 50 percent (48.6 percent) in the past five years.
New students head to orientation activities at QuestWeek 2010.
 
“This fall is a milestone year for Lipscomb, marking five years of successful fund-raising, facilities improvements, new hiring of faculty and staff and academic program enhancement,” said Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry. “In 2009 we completed a five-year investment initiative one year early, and in 2010 we are looking ahead to the future, making plans for new science facilities, increasing our endowment and adding new academic programs. Another record-breaking enrollment this year certainly starts our next decade off on the right track.”
 
In 2009, the university completed the five-year 2010 initiative, investing $40 million in new facilities and academic programs.
 
2010’s enrollment is an increase of 329 students, the second-largest one-year increase since 2005.
 
Lipscomb’s graduate enrollment increased by 131 students, up to 1,098, over last fall's official 14-day figure, and undergraduate enrollment increased by 198 students to 2,644. Making up a major part of the undergraduate increase, the freshman class of 2010 is larger by 69 students, up to a total of 658.
 
The five-year growth trend is due largely to new programs established in high-demand areas, especially at the graduate level -- such as pharmacy, English language learning in K-12 education and sustainability -- and increased recruiting by various programs serving specific student groups, such as the Adult Degree Program for working adults completing their bachelor’s degree at night and the Yellow Ribbon Program for military veterans who qualify under the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill.
 
“By expanding our facilities, faculty and methods for delivering education to a more non-traditional student population, we have been able to bring the same level of personal, one-on-one education we have provided for over a century to a much larger student population,” said Lipscomb Provost Craig Bledsoe. “Our students are now more varied in work background, lifestyle and educational goals than they have ever been.”
 
The number of new students entering new graduate programs this year are:
  • 22 new Doctor of Education graduate students, a program started this fall;
  • 22 new students in the College of Business, which started a master’s degree in human resource management this fall;
  • 20 new students in the exercise and nutrition science program, which started last fall;
  • 28 new students in the fourth year of the graduate psychology programs; and
  • 77 new students in the third class for the College of Pharmacy.
 
Lipscomb University was ranked among the top 18 universities in the South, by the U.S. News and World Report’s “2011 America’s Best Colleges” guidebook. The university has jumped 10 spots in the U.S. News’ rankings in the past five years.