Columbus State on track for record fall semester enrollment

Early indications show Columbus State University is on track to break its record for fall semester enrollment.

As of last week, 8,568 students were enrolled at CSU, the university announced in a news release Monday, two weeks after the fall 2017 semester started. The figure tends to fluctuate until the final enrollment is determined in October, but CSU officials are hopeful the total will remain higher than the university’s record enrollment of 8,440 students, set in fall 2015. The fall 2016 enrollment was 8,407.

“Our enrollment should be growing,” said CSU president Chris Markwood said in the news release. “Columbus State University is an exciting place to be right now. More and more students are discovering that we are indeed their first choice. I think they are taking notice of the caliber of our faculty and facilities, and of the national recognitions we are receiving for our combination of academic excellence and value.”

The preliminary fall 2017 enrollment figure continues the momentum from the summer as that term’s enrollment of 3,728 shows an increase of 4.2 percent from summer 2016. The news release also notes CSU’s retention rate for first-time full-time students has increased from 65.6 percent in 2011-12 to 73.3 percent in 2015-16.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 10:12 AM with the headline "Columbus State on track for record fall semester enrollment."