Lee University’s fall enrollment is up, according to the enrollment profile released by Vice President for Enrollment Phil Cook. The profile confirms an ongoing trend of steady growth and features a set of new records.
“We are thrilled to have the semester underway with another record-breaking year at Lee,” Mr. Cook said. “Our student body is bigger and more academically prepared than ever, and our campus wide retention efforts are producing great results. This kind of success is especially gratifying in today’s extremely competitive higher education environment.”
The overall headcount of 5,370 students is the largest ever. This number is a combined total of Lee students from all classifications, on and off campus.
The 2017 freshman class has broken the record set last fall for largest in the university’s history. These 901 freshman have also topped the previous record for best average ACT at 24.6.
Freshman to sophomore retention has also reached a new high of 81 percent. This percentage represents how many of last year’s freshmen have returned for their second year.
Not all areas of the enrollment increased as there were slight decreases in new transfers and online students.
The university also has an increase in full time equivalent students. An industry-specific statistic, FTE counts how many credit hours are being taken, and tallies how many students this would mean if every student were enrolled in a full-time load of 12 credit hours.
According to Mr. Cook, this means that not only are there more students at Lee than last year, but also more teaching is being done than last year. It is another solid indicator of institutional health.
In addition to this news about the fall enrollment, Lee also experienced a record number of 1,020 graduates during the 2016-2017 academic year.
“This is a truly significant accomplishment,” said Mr. Cook. “To have more than 1,000 students complete their degrees in one year is remarkable. These totals reflect the recent growth of our enrollment, but it also confirms the quality of students choosing Lee. You cannot have this kind of success without an outstanding faculty and staff. This is a result of their hard work and further demonstrates the kind of university Lee is becoming.”