Florida A&M’s enrollment reached a record 13,200 last year as the university progressed toward its goal to push its headcount to 15,000 students.
This year, however, enrollment slightly decreased, particularly in the freshmen class, as a result of the university’s stricter admission practices.
“As opposed to looking at overall scores, we’re now looking at each sub section on the tests that students take, which makes it a little tougher to be admitted,” Vice President of Student Affairs William Hudson said.
Even though more stringent admission practices bore a smaller freshmen class, Hudson said there are more ways to increase enrollment than just bringing in a large freshmen class.
Hudson said President Ammons spoke to the Council of Presidents at the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities meeting in June 2011, briefing all in attendance about what FAMU has to offer for future students.
“We have a lot of new things on the horizon to increase our numbers,” said Hudson. “We’re establishing new articulation agreements with all twenty-eight state and community colleges in Florida to increase our number of transfer students.”
Attracting transfer, graduate and distance learning students are three avenues that administrators said will most likely boost enrollment numbers.
“Larger enrollment numbers at FAMU provides opportunities for students who otherwise might not have had those same opportunities elsewhere, said Hudson. As long as our number of students grows, so will our faculty, staff and infrastructure.”
University Fact Books provided by the Office of Institutional Research shows that enrollment has steadily increased since 1993, decreasing only from 2005 – 2007.