Arkansas Tech University released preliminary enrollment figures for the fall 2020 semester following the 11th class day of its 111th session on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
Preliminary headcount enrollment at ATU for fall 2020 is 10,866. The university is serving 10,137 undergraduate students and 729 graduate students.
“As the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic began to develop last spring, it became clear that this would be the most challenging recruiting season for higher education since World War II,” said Dr. Robin E. Bowen, ATU president. “The health concerns and financial hardships created by the pandemic prevented many students from beginning or continuing their post-secondary studies this fall. Our university pulled together and worked diligently over these past six months to develop a strategy that would allow us to continue delivering high-quality programs and services in a manner that protected the health and well-being of our students, faculty and staff. We also pledged no increase in tuition and mandatory fees for the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters.
“We are pleased that these factors, coupled with the reputation this university has cultivated over multiple generations, allowed us to recruit a freshman class larger than the one we welcomed to our campuses just two years ago, increase our student semester credit hours (SSCH) on the Ozark campus and generate the overall SSCH necessary to support our operations for the fall 2020 semester,” continued Bowen. “By maintaining focus on student access and student success, Arkansas Tech University will continue carrying out its mission as a responsive campus community providing opportunities for progressive intellectual development and civic engagement.”
Student semester credit hours for ATU-Ozark Campus college-level students are up 5 percent as compared to one year ago.
“Challenging times require higher education to be nimble and adaptable,” said Bowen. “Those traits are part of the DNA at ATU-Ozark Campus. Through a stackable model that extends to our Russellville campus, ATU-Ozark students attain credentials that lead to progressively increasing career and educational opportunities. It is important that we offer multiple entry points to higher education and serve lifelong learners as their training needs evolve in response to changing economic conditions.”
In addition to the pandemic, ATU’s demonstrated improvement in graduating students on a shortened timeline is also a downward pressure on its enrollment figures.
Arkansas Tech’s current four-year graduation rate for first-time freshmen is 43.7 percent, which is an increase of 15.8 percentage points as compared to two years prior.
ATU conferred 4,072 credentials during the 2019-20 academic year, which was most in university history.
Preliminary headcount enrollment by campus at ATU for fall 2020 is 8,892 through Russellville and 1,974 through Ozark. Those figures include concurrent students. ATU’s preliminary headcount enrollment minus concurrent students for both campuses is 8,146.
There are 1,773 freshmen enrolled at ATU for fall 2020. That is a 15.5 percent decrease as compared to the university’s record class of 2,098 freshmen in fall 2019. The fall 2020 Arkansas Tech freshman headcount is 46 students greater than the ATU freshman class of 2018.
Visit www.atu.edu to learn more about Arkansas Tech University.
