LSU: Fall enrollment shatters records
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BATON ROUGE, LA (KTBS) — For the third-straight year, Louisiana State University has broken the record for the largest and most diverse freshman class in university history, LSU announced in a Monday press release.
This year’s 6,690 freshmen enrolled surpasses last year’s record of 6,126 freshmen. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, overall enrollment at LSU is at an all-time high of 34,290, and the university also saw high marks for retention and graduation rates.
“Setting new records for enrollment, retention and graduation rates would be an exceptional achievement during any academic year, but it’s an incredible accomplishment during this year of a pandemic. These outstanding gains speak to the great strength and reputation of LSU, and they are testament to the fantastic work of our talented faculty and staff whose dedication to student success is inspirational,” said LSU Interim President Tom Galligan.
With a record-breaking 6,690 full-time freshman enrolled, diversity of the class is also at an all-time high, the university says in its release.
It goes on to provide related statistics, citing the freshman classes’ Black student population, which is 16.8%. The university says this topped the 15.8% of Black students in the 2018 class.
LSU goes on to say that its number of Hispanic students in its freshman class has also reached a record high of 9.1% for the 2020, exceeding the 8.1% in the 2019 class. Students who identify as either American Indian, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Hispanic, and two or more races make up more than 30% of the total freshman class this year, LSU says.
In the last 10 years, LSU has seen overall enrollment of Black students increase 87% to 5,028 and Hispanic student enrollment increase 130% to 2,490.
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