Undergraduate enrollment at Alabama’s two-year colleges increased by 7.2% this fall, according to preliminary data from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. At public four-year colleges, it’s up 2.2%.
Combined, those increases represent 8,459 students and a total undergraduate population of 216,449.
Graduate student enrollment increased by .6% to 43,017 students, according to the early numbers presented at the ACHE board meeting on Friday.
Universities with the largest increases were the University of Montevallo, 16.9%, and Alabama A&M, 13%.
“There is a lot of intervention that is happening on a lot of these campuses,” Jim Purcell, ACHE’s executive director, told the board.
Undergrad enrollment, per the preliminary numbers, declined at Auburn University at Montgomery, Troy University, University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Alabama at Huntsville.
For community colleges, the largest gains were at Lawson State, 20%; Bishop State, 27%; and Reid State, 35.4%.
“(Lawson State’s increase is) largely because of their recruiting efforts,” Purcell said.
“…All of (the colleges) have their own stories (about increasing enrollment) and if you get a chance to talk to them about how they did, I think it’d be very informative.”
Five of the 24 community colleges saw decreases in population, according to the early numbers.
Enrollment data will be finalized in February.