Belmont University has set another school record for fall enrollment, with 3,959 students enrolled as of today. While the enrollment total is not yet finalized, enrollment is up by 330 students over fall 2003, a 9 percent increase, and nearly 1,000 students over fall 2000, a 33 percent increase.
The 730-student freshman class, larger than last fall by 100 students, is “the latest validation that Belmont University has the right vision for its future,” said Dr. Robert Fisher, president of the university. “Belmont University is on a roll. The abilities of our incoming freshman and our rapidly rising enrollment show we are on the right track.”
University Provost Dan McAlexander says the freshman class is “the biggest and the best” freshman class in school history.
“Belmont set a goal of reaching 4,000 in enrollment by the fall of 2007, and while we’re well on the way to achieving that goal early, the most important thing is we’re doing it by attracting not just more students, but more students who are more highly academically qualified,” McAlexander said.
• Six percent of freshmen are either the valedictorian or salutatorian of their high school graduating class. There are 31 valedictorians and 11 salutatorians.
• Thirty-six percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, up from 34 percent last year.
• 67 percent graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school graduating class. That’s up from 63 percent last year.
• The average ACT score for the 2004 freshman class is 25, and the range of ACT scores for the middle 50 percent of freshmen, 23-28, is up from 22-27 last year.
Belmont’s fall 2003 enrollment was 3,629. Enrollment in fall 2000 was 2,976, for a three-year growth rate of 22 percent. By comparison, the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, a group of 36 private institutions that includes Belmont, reported total enrollment up 9 percent over the same period. And the Tennessee Higher Education Commission reported enrollment grew just 1.1 percent at the state’s 51 public institutions of higher learning over the same three-year period.
