K-State Sets All-Time Enrollment Figures

 

More students chose to attend Kansas State University this fall than ever before in the university’s history.

For the third year in a row, K-State is once again reporting an all-time record enrollment. Total enrollment for fall 2001 is 22,396, compared with the previous record of 21,929 students set last year.

Enrollment at the Manhattan campus is 21,362 compared with 21,003, a year ago. The Salina campus reported a record enrollment of 1,034, up from the previous record of 926, set last fall.

K-State President Jon Wefald said, "I think we have excellent students at Kansas State University, and we are clearly the university of choice in the state of Kansas. K-State enrolled about 35 percent of all the No. 1s and No. 2s in the state of Kansas for the fall of 200l. Students recognize that we have a first-rate faculty. The quality of the faculty is the most important measure of the quality of any university."

"As the No. 1 choice for Kansas high school graduates, we greatly appreciate the outstanding job that was done by high school counselors in working with their students to prepare them for qualified admission," said Pat Bosco, associate vice president for institutional advancement and dean of student life.

New freshman enrollment is 3,199 at the Manhattan campus and 256 at the Salina campus, for a total of 3,455. The Manhattan new freshman enrollment is down by 109, while Salina new freshman enrollment is up by 38.

"These numbers surprised us," Bosco said. "Frankly, with the advent of qualified admissions, we were anticipating a much larger drop in the number of incoming freshmen, based upon similar experiences in other states. Additionally, we only used about half of the number of allowable exceptions for students who did not meet the qualified admission criteria.

"This tells me that students are doing a great job of preparing themselves for acceptance at K-State. In fact, this freshman class should be better prepared for the college experience than previous classes."

This freshman class included 305 students who were first or second in their high school class. K-State enrolled 126 Governor’s scholars. There are 19 National Merit finalists and semifinalists and one student recognized by the National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding Negro Students. National Merit students receive K-State Presidential Scholarships. These are funded through a grant to the president’s office from the KSU Foundation.