Contact: Kip Howard, (740) 593-4100
ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University's Office of Admissions accepted slightly more students for next fall's freshman class after receiving a record number of applications from high school seniors.
Director of Admissions Kip Howard said a new high of 12,507 high school seniors applied for freshman admission on the Athens campus. Of those, 9,178 have been admitted. Last year, 11,974 students applied for fall admission and 8,956 were admitted.
Actual enrollment of freshmen next fall is expected to total 3,490, up from 3,309 in the freshman class this year. The increase of 181 freshmen next fall will raise the undergraduate student body by about 120 students, Howard said, boosting enrollment on the Athens campus from 19,189 this past fall to 19,309 next fall.
Preliminary statistics indicate that, as a group, next year's freshman class will have ranked slightly higher in their high school classes and had slightly higher ACT and SAT scores than this year's freshmen.
"Overall, we feel really good about this class, because our applications have increased and there's been a slight increase in quality," Howard said.
While minority admission statistics are not yet available, Howard said his office is "optimistic we can increase enrollments for African Americans and Hispanics." This past fall, the number of African-American freshmen enrolled decreased by five to 116 and Hispanic freshman enrollment increased from 39 to 55.
Provost Sharon Brehm said the university is prepared for the slight increase in students. Residence halls can accommodate the increase and, in an effort to keep the faculty-to-student ratio low, the university will add one faculty member for every 20 additional students enrolled next year, she said. In addition, Brehm said the university will allocate $10,000 more in student activity funds for every 20 additional students. That means an increase of 120 students next fall would add six new faculty members.