Freshmen break enrollment records

Freshman enrollment numbers, ACT scores and GPAs are the highest in ten years, according to Chancellor Roger Brown's State of the University Address.Chuck Cantrell, assistant vice chancellor of university relations said "It is a record high, at least in the last ten years."

Although Brown said in his address enrollment has increased 3.5 percent, Dr. Richard Gruetzemacher, director of planning evaluation, said "If we look over three years, from 2005 to 2008, we've got ...an increase of 43.3 percent [in freshmen enrollment]."

"The numbers speak for themselves," Gruetzemacher said.

"We're trying to coordinate our recruiting efforts a little bit better," Cantrell said.

"We have targeted some specific areas...we feel like we have a very competitive scholarship program.we feel like if we can get them to come to campus we have a really good shot at getting them to enroll."

Cantrell said he thinks the increase in freshmen enrollment, ACT scores and GPAs are a result of the HOPE scholarship.

"The lottery scholarship is now kicking in," he said. "The first group of high school students with the promise of the lottery scholarship is now graduating. They've known they have to keep their grades up and they have to do well."

Gruetzemacher said he thinks the HOPE scholarship has helped to increase enrollment.

"We are trying to increase the attendance and one factor I think that has helped has been the hope scholarship. We try to recruit more good students to UTC every year...and apparently more and more students have made UTC a first choice," he said

Samantha Wesson, a Chattanooga freshmen, said UTC was her first choice. "I'm just 17 and didn't want to move away from home," she said.

Wesson said the HOPE scholarship was an incentive to maintain high grades during high school and middle college.

"A lot of people can't afford to come to college so I knew I had to keep my grades up," she said.

Cantrell said he thinks UTC is starting to be a first choice for many students, not just those who are from surrounding areas.

"I think that when students see the educational quality that we have, plus the relationship we have with the communities...and the doors that opens...all those hands on applied experiences that you can only get when you're studying in a metropolitan community, I think that's a big part of it," Cantrell said.

"Chattanooga's a great drawing card in and of itself, because you're in school maybe six or seven hours of the day, but the rest of the time you can live, and you want to live in a place that is vibrant and has things to do and Chattanooga is that city," he said.

Gruetzemacher said "We've gotten a lot more students from the middle Tennessee area, probably because of intense recruiting of UTC's existence and how convenient it is.

"You can still take the laundry home on weekends and get a home cooked meal.

Cantrell said UTC also has the most diverse student body in Tennessee.

"We changed our admission requirements a little bit," Cantrell said.

Gruetzemacher said the conditional admission's category was actually dropped and now students can be admitted on a more holistic basis.

"Right now we've had the luxury of any students who meet our admission requirements," Cantrell said. He said despite open enrollment the university has been able to improve the freshmen profile with students who have higher GPAs, higher ACT scores and college credit already underneath their belt. "

We're getting a very qualified freshmen class," he said.

According to statistics provided by Gruetzemacher 25.8 percent of fall freshmen were admitted with college credit

But some students said there are some drawbacks to the increased freshmen enrollment.

Wesson said: "The parking's not good. If you want get a parking spot, you have to be here at 7:00 in the morning."

Brittany Hollingsworth, a Nashville senior, said she did not purchase a parking pass this year. "I'm only on campus three days a week and that's not worth the extra $100 when sometimes I still have to pay to park in the garage when I can't find general spots."

"There's absolutely going to be a need for more parking, or parking solutions. It may be that we get to the point where there is a more diversified parking solutions," Cantrell said.

Hollingsworth said she was surprised when she heard some students were put in hotels. "They need to raise their standards," she said. "At some point you have to distinguish between the people who deserve to be here and the people who don't."

But Cantrell said the university may not talk about exploring enrollment options in the immediate future, students could begin to hear talk of it in the next few years. "In the future we're going to at least have the conversation about does UTC need an enrollment cap," Cantrell said.

Cantrell said "We have to look at some of the solutions that some of the other campuses are using. We have to look at all those possibilities." But he said, "That's down the road, too. I'm sure we're going to see more reliance on the campus shuttle." Cantrell said there may also be a need to move some parking away from the center of classes.

Cantrell said the increased demand to be a UTC student may cause university officials to look at more online options and at moving more classes to the afternoon.

But he said, "That's a great problem to have, it means students want to come to your campus," Cantrell said.

"There are lots of those conversations that we're going to have to have as we grow," he said.