FIVE MINUTES WITH THE PRESIDENT
Upward Mobility
Despite the pandemic, MTSU actually increased enrollment over Fall 2019.
A brief conversation on recent events with MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee Colleges and universities across the country experienced significant enrollment declines in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Tennessee is certainly no exception, as students and parents considered issues of safety, value, and the remarkable uncertainties created by COVID-19 and wondered if a gap year or other alternative to a four-year college experience might not make sense. Due to the exceptional work of our faculty and staff, MTSU appears to have weathered this storm. Tell me more about that.
The University reported the largest year-over-year gains in enrollment last fall among the state’s locally governed higher education institutions. With a 1.7% overall increase, MTSU also remains the largest undergraduate institution among the locally governed institutions (LGIs), which include Austin Peay, East Tennessee State, the University of Memphis, Tennessee Tech, and Tennessee State. 6 MTSU Magazine
Our official head count reported for Fall 2020 is 22,084, an increase of 369 students compared to numbers from Fall 2019. MTSU’s undergraduate enrollment of 19,192, while down 1.35% over last year, still places the University tops among the LGIs. Also, in converting head count into full-time equivalencies, MTSU’s 17,905 number was up just shy of 1%. MTSU was the only LGI to show increases in both head count and full-time equivalencies. The University’s surge was fueled by an almost 28% growth in our College of Graduate Studies and by record retention efforts of currently enrolled undergraduates by our faculty and advisors. New graduate enrollment at MTSU outperformed our LGI peers, jumping by 631 this
