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By Matthew Nagel
Georgia Tech's fall enrollment was more than 18,000 for the first time in its history and can be attributed in part to higher retention and an increase in the number of new graduate students.
"We are retaining more students in larger classes at the undergraduate level while we are more successfully recruiting graduate students, particularly at the master's level," said Sandi Bramblett, director of Institutional Research and Planning. "For example, we enrolled a larger-than-usual freshman class last fall (2,839 students) and according to preliminary studies, we've retained 92 percent of them."
Ingrid Hayes, director of Undergraduate Admission, said much of the total enrollment increase can be attributed to the growth of the graduate population. "Undergraduate enrollment has only increased about 2 percent since last year, but graduate enrollment has jumped 10 percent since last year and 22 percent over the last five years."
Georgia Tech's director of Graduate Studies, Gail Potts, attributed the increase in graduate admissions to a favorable economy, new automated systems that make the application process accessible worldwide, a concerted effort to remain in contact with potential graduate students throughout the admissions process and a national resurgence in master's programs.
"We are very pleased and proud of our accomplishments in attracting more and better graduate students," said Potts. "It appears that early application numbers for fall 2008 would indicate that this trend likely will continue."
Tech also has increased its housing capacity as the growing student population has heightened the demand for more housing. The Institute added more than 1,400 beds in 2007, most of those at the North Avenue Apartments, formerly Georgia State housing.
"We increased our capacity and increased it where we needed it most," said Dan Morrison, associate director of Residence Life. "North Avenue Apartments are made up mostly of sophomore students who want to extend their on-campus living experience. You won't see this type of capacity at other universities with our size and urban location."
About 8,100 students live in campus housing and another 1,300 additional students live in Greek housing.
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