Service Leader Scholars, from left, Sean Vogt, Greg Shivers, Nick Bauman, and Rebecca Muncy (in the foreground) were among those who helped new students move into residence halls on Aug. 15. The Service Leader Scholars joined faculty, staff, and the college administration as they gave some welcome assistance to new students and their families in carrying carloads of boxes and other items into the residence halls. (Tusculum College photo)

Tusculum begins fall 2002 semester with record-breaking enrollment growth

Tusculum College is beginning its 209th academic year with a record number of students in its traditional program.

Enrollment in the Residential College for the fall 2002 semester has reached 800 students, the highest number in its history, according to George Wolf, vice president for enrollment management.

The Residential College, which serves traditional-aged undergraduate students, is one of Tusculum College's two major divisions. The other is the Graduate and Professional Studies program, which provides higher education to about 1,100 working adults throughout East Tennessee.

This fall's enrollment is an increase of 20 percent over the 2001 fall semester enrollment, which reached 635 in the Residential College, and is almost double the numbers from the 2000 fall semester when fewer than 500 were enrolled.

"It is exciting to see all the new students on campus and gratifying to know that more and more people are recognizing the potential for a high-quality education at this historic college," said Tusculum College President Dr. Dolphus Henry. "This is an important step toward our goal of increasing Residential College enrollment to 1,000 students by the fall of 2006."

Among the 800 students, who are coming to Tusculum from across the country, are 360 new entering students - freshmen and transfer students. Freshmen applications to the college for the fall semester increased more than 25 percent from the previous year, eclipsing 1,000 applications for the first time in the college's history, Wolf said.

Incoming student academic quality is strong, Wolf also noted. Students entering Tusculum College this fall on the whole show increases over the preceding year in all areas of academic preparedness, including increases in the averages of GPAs, as well as ACT and SAT scores, he said.

To accommodate the increase in students, the college has constructed four new apartment-style residence halls, which are being occupied by students for the first time this full. Able to accommodate 192 students, the new residence halls are full, as is the remainder of housing on campus.