MU Sets Records in Total, Undergraduate, Minority and International Enrollments, High-Ability Students, Retention Rate

August 25th, 2014

By Diamond Dixon

COLUMBIA, Mo. – On the first day of classes, the University of Missouri welcomed its largest student body in its 175-year history with 34,935 students enrolled and a record number of 27,411 undergraduate students enrolled. Mizzou’s incoming freshman class of 6,546 is nearly the largest in MU’s history, second only to the 2012 freshman class of 6,560.

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The incoming freshman class is also Mizzou’s highest-ability entering class in history with an ACT mean score of 25.9, as compared to an average score of 25.7 for the incoming freshmen classes the past three years. Additionally, 560 Bright Flight recipients, 288 Curator Scholars and 379 Chancellor’s Scholars are members of MU’s freshman class this year.

“We are pleased to welcome a large class of high-ability students to MU,” said Ann Korschgen, vice provost for enrollment management at MU. “These students came to Mizzou because of the many opportunities for enriching educational experiences that prepare them for successful careers as positive contributors to society.”

Last fall, Korschgen and Chancellor Emeritus Brady Deaton announced scholarship improvements to high-ability students in an effort to address the increasing cost of higher education in the nation and to maintain and continue the highest quality education for which the University of Missouri has become known.

The total number of minority students rose this year to 5,386 compared to 5,116 last year, an increase of 5.3 percent. International student enrollment is 2,323, also the highest in Mizzou’s history, which reflects an increase of 10 percent compared to last year. Additionally, this year marks the highest retention rate in MU’s history of 86 percent.

MU students also are enrolled in a record number of online classes, with students registered in nearly 24,000 credit hours of 100-percent online coursework.

“MU offers more than 900 online courses to those seeking degrees, and 2,245 distance students currently are working toward their degrees at Mizzou,” Korschgen said. “Distance is no longer a barrier in gaining a quality MU education.”

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
FIRST DAY ENROLLMENT FIGURES 2014

	Fall 2013	Fall 2014	Difference
First-Time Freshmen	6,227	6,546	+5.1 percent
Total Minority	5,116	5,386*	+5.3 percent
Total International students	2,109	2,323*	+10.1 percent
Mean ACT (freshman class)	25.7	25.9*	+.07 percent
E-learning (100 percent online) credit hours in which students are enrolled	19,773	23,734*	+20 percent
Total Enrollment	34,111	34,935*	+2.4 percent

*indicates record figure