A&T Expected to Grow to 9,500 Students

Sharonda Eggleton Longer lines are becoming more common at North Carolina A&T, especially with the record enrollment coming in for the fall term.

North Carolina A&T, now the eighth-largest of the 16 schools in the University of North Carolina system, is expected to grow to a record 9,500 students when the fall semester begins, according to the A&T admissions office.

In fall 1999, about 7,500 students were enrolled, and by last fall the total reached 9,115. By 2010, A&T hopes to have 13,500 to 14,000 students.

"We want planned growth and efficient use of campus. If we grow, we hopefully will get more budget revenue so we can do more things," said Lee Young, director of admissions.

"Enrollment is growing due to a combination of things. It's a continual growth of the chancellor's plan," Young said. "The enrollment management area has donean aggressive job to recruit students, and the institution is really making efforts to increase retention rates for all students."

This year, 2,130 new freshmen are expected to enroll, as are 500 new transfers.

Young said that A&T is hoping its Capital Campaign, an effort to raise $100 million by Dec. 31, 2007, will raise enough to accommodate the increase.

Some administrators say that improved recruiting efforts have boosted enrollment.

"Over the last three years, we‚ve been very happy withour recruiting, as we‚ve had a comprehensive programand have called upon our alumni and local community to spread the word about A&T,'" said Mable Scott, assistant vice chancellor for university relations. "Our advertising and marketing strategies have been creative, and by using these methods, we've had history-making and record-breaking years."

N.C. A&T ranked 19th this year on BlackEnterprise magazine's list of top colleges and universities for African Americans. Already, the number of out-of-state students is growing. As of last fall, the figure was a record 19.9 percent. Inaddition, more older students are enrolling: In the fall, nearly 2,000 of the 9,115 students were 25 or older, and 421 were 41 or older.

Chris Wallace is a student at North Carolina A&T State University.

Posted July 3, 2003