Iowa State Reports Record Breaking Enrollment

may or may not be able to beat the University of Iowa at football, but they definitely have done their part to sell out stadiums.

Fall enrollment of more than 31,000 students is record-breaking and marks the sixth straight year of growth.

Though Iowa has more students this year, ISU has reported record-breaking enrollments for the last four straight years.

This year's class of freshman is also the largest ever at 5,366 with 3,251 from Iowa.

“Since fall 2006, our enrollment has grown by more than 21 percent, a significant increase that reflects the confidence students and their families have in Iowa State,” said Iowa State University President Steven Leath in a prepared statement.

Interim Director of Admissions Darin Wohlgemuth said he attributes the growth through the recession to the school's recruitment policies, its suite of majors and its online application process.

A new admissions procedure that started in 2010 for the fall of 2011 lets applicants know whether they have been accepted within 48 hours of submitting their online application.

Applicants are allowed to self report their information such as high school transcripts, speeding up the admissions process.

It's only the second week of school and 3,000 students have been accepted for the fall of 2013 already, said Phil Caffrey, director of Admissions Operations and Policy.

Caffrey said the earlier a student is admitted the more likely they are to enroll.

“When we started it, nobody else was doing it and some were skeptical,” Caffrey said.

But out of 5,000 students who were accepted for the fall of 2012, just five had to be withdrawn after the university confirmed transcripts, he said.

The University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa have recently announced they will use the same process, he said.

Iowa State University Enrollment By the Numbers:

• Record undergraduate enrollment of 25,553, an increase of 1,210 students from fall 2011.
• Record international student enrollment of 3,510, an increase of 86 students from fall 2011. The overall number also reflects a record in the number of international undergraduates: 1,989.
• Record diversity. More than one in five Iowa State students is either a minority or an international student. Total U.S. minority and international enrollment is 6,765, or 21.79 percent of the student body. (The previous record set in fall 2011 was 6,369, or 21.31 percent of the student body.) U.S. minority enrollment is 3,255 (10.5 percent of total enrollment), a new record and an increase over last fall’s 2,945 students. For the past six years, Iowa State has met or exceeded the 8.5 percent minority enrollment goal set by the Iowa Board of Regents.
• Record transfer student enrollment of 1,841, up from last year’s record of 1,781 students.
• Record transfer enrollment from Iowa’s community colleges: 1,111, up from last year’s record of 1,050 students