NAU breaks last year's record for enrollment

Northern Arizona University has broken its own enrollment record with a student population of 21,352, an increase of 3.84 percent.

Total enrollment is 790 over fall 2006's record of 20,562.

Enrollment grew in freshmen, transfer, undergraduate, minority and international students as well as enrollment at the Flagstaff campus.

"Enrollment growth is good for the university, but more important it is good for the state," said NAU President John Haeger. "We are helping to prepare the skilled workforce Arizona needs to take economic development to the next level and to ensure a leadership position in an intensely competitive global market."

Enrollment on the Flagstaff campus rose to 13,989, which is 546 over last fall.

Out-of-state students increased from 3,755 to 4,254, a 13.3 percent jump. In-state enrollment grew from 16,807 to 17,098, a 1.7 percent increase.

NAU's retention rate for full-time freshmen remains at an all-time high of 71 percent.

"This second record-breaking year of enrollment growth is a testament to the extraordinary efforts of our deans, the faculty and all the staff at NAU who make significant contributions to our commitment to be a truly student-centered university," Haeger said.

NAU also experienced increases in the overall minority student population.The African-American student population grew to 648, a 16.6 percent increase over last year's number of 556. The Latino student population increased from 2,543 to 2,616, a 2.9 percent increase. Native American students dipped slightly from 1,336 to 1,297.

The number of international students increased by 41, or 9.8 percent.

Online, Distance Learning and NAU-Yuma students totaled 7,363 students in fall 2007 compared to 7,119 in fall 2006, a difference of 244 or 3.4 percent.

View the complete enrollment report on the Planning, Budget and Institutional Research web site.