East Tennessee State University’s spring 2006 enrollment – with a headcount up approximately 1 percent over last year – represents the highest spring count in the history of the institution.
This semester’s enrollment of 11,455 tops ETSU’s previous record enrollment set in the spring of 1993. These numbers include the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, which reports a total enrollment of 499, including 234 medical students and 265 medical residents.
Because the trend at ETSU is also for students to take increased loads of coursework, the or full-time equivalency (FTE) is the highest spring FTE in the history of the institution, also up almost 1 percent over last year’s which was the previous university record.
Although modest overall growth is reflected in these numbers, some areas of significant change are noted.
The number of students transferring to ETSU continues to show substantial growth. Spring semester’s new transfer enrollment increased by 17.3 percent over the previous spring semester. “The increase in transfer enrollment reflects ETSU’s strong commitment to facilitating a seamless transfer for students from our community college partners,” said ETSU President Paul Stanton.
Another notable trend in undergraduate enrollment is a record number of students in the freshman and junior classifications.
“It is gratifying to see that students are selecting to attend ETSU in record numbers,” said ETSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Bert C. Bach, who commented further about the junior class numbers. “ETSU is engaged in a concerted effort to improve our student retention and graduation rates, and we are encouraged to see this strength in our upper division enrollment. Our continuing campus efforts will specifically target programs to improve student success.”
Significant growth is noted at the graduate level. The number of new graduate students increased by 18.8 percent over the 2005 spring numbers. A slight increase is noted at the master’s level, with a substantial increase in enrollment in the institution’s doctoral-level programs.
According to ETSU Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Wesley Brown, “The growth in our doctoral programs is evidenced by a 3.8 percent increase in FTE, and the university will continue to see growth at the graduate level with additional graduate programs scheduled to begin in the near future.”
In addition to several graduate-level programs, future enrollment initiatives at ETSU will include a number of new science and math plans at the undergraduate level, an enhanced commitment to dual enrollment opportunities with high-ability high school students, the new College of Pharmacy opening in 2007, and an out-of-state tuition waiver opportunity for qualified students from Lee, Scott and Washington counties in Virginia and from Avery, Madison, Mitchell, Watauga and Yancey counties in North Carolina.
ETSU application information is available at www.etsu.edu/admissions for undergraduate studies, or www.etsu.edu/gradstud for graduate studies, or by calling 439-4213 (undergraduate) or 439-4221 (graduate studies).

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