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Student enrollment sees flux

Student enrollment for the Spring 2013 semester is down by about 1304 people from last fall but is up slightly from last spring.
“We had 11,469 students enrolled last semester,” Dr. Robert Hodum, associate vice president for enrollment management and student success, said. “The official number for this semester has not been confirmed yet, but it looks like we have about 10,165 students enrolled this semester.”
Graduating seniors is the main reason for the drop in enrollment from last semester.
“About 900 students graduated in December,” Hodum said. “The drop in enrollment between fall and spring is not unusual. Your fall class is usually the largest class of the year.”
Non-returning freshmen are another reason for the decreased enrollment this semester. Last semester there were about 2,200 incoming freshmen.
“Usually about 10 percent of our freshmen choose not to come back for their second semester,” Hodum said. “Of the roughly 200 freshmen who do not return, about 80 will go to a community college or a school closer to where they live, but many of those students will come back to Tech in the future.”
Although enrollment is down from the fall, it is up slightly compared to the spring 2012 semester.
“Last spring we had 10,144 students enrolled, so this semester we are up by less than 1 percent,” Hodum said. “We have a better retention rate here at Tech compared to most of our sister institutions. Most schools in the Tennessee Board of Regents are reporting that enrollment is down from last spring. We are happy to be up.”
Some students are noticing a decrease in the amount of people on campus compared to last fall.
“Going back and forth between classes, it seems like there are less people,” Caleb Freeman, student, said.
The official enrollment number for this semester will be confirmed later this year.