KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Enrollment of first-time freshmen at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville rose 20 percent this fall, and UT statewide has 57 more students than a year ago, records show.
UT-Martin reports a record high enrollment, and enrollment is up at UT-Chattanooga but down at Knoxville.
UT has 41,984 students enrolled on all of its campuses. The head-count, by campus (with the fall 1994 figures in parenthesis) is:
* Knoxville — 25,488 (25,648), down 160.
* Chattanooga — 8,331 (8,281), up 50.
* Martin — 5,801 (5,608), up 193.
* Memphis — 2,080 (2,095), down 15.
* Space Institute, Tullahoma — 234 (295), down 61.
Martin’s 1995 enrollment is 101 higher than the campus’ previous record established in 1983.
“We’ve had a very intensive recruitment process to get the students who match UT-Martin,” Chancellor Margaret Perry said. “When you do that, you get a student who’s motivated and wanted to be there. Match that with a good faculty, and it culminat ed this year in these increases.”
A sharp increase in first-time freshmen partially offset a drop in graduate and transfer students at UT-Knoxville.
UT-Knoxville has 6,754 graduate students this fall, down 286 from last year, and 1,381 transfers, a drop of 234 from a year ago.
“The 1,615 transfers we had in 1994 was the most we ever had, an increase of more than 70 percent over a five-year period, and you just can’t sustain that kind of growth,” said Gordon Stanley, UTK director of admissions.
“When the job market is strong, fewer students elect to stay in school as graduate students,” said Dr. John Peters, UT-Knoxville’s vice chancellor for academic affairs.
But UTK’s first-time freshman enrollment was 3,412, an increase of 564, or 20 percent, over the fall of 1994.
“Not only is this our largest class in years, it is also the most academically talented group UTK has ever admitted,” Peters said. The average ACT score for UTK entering freshmen is 23.6, up 0.3 from last year’s average.
UTK’s undergraduate enrollment this fall is 18,719, up 129 from a year ago.
Undergraduate and first-time freshmen enrollments are up at Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis. UT-Chattanooga’s first-time freshmen count is up 13.4 percent over a year ago.
UTC Chancellor Fred Obear said his campus experienced a significant increase in students from Memphis, Tri-Cities, Nashville and out-of-state, including Atlanta.
“New degree programs, including paralegal studies, physical therapy and anesthesiology, have attracted a lot of students,” Obear said.