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ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ has set another enrollment record and exceeded 15,000 students for the first time in the school’s history, officials announced today. Official figures for the fall 2016 semester taken on the 20^th class day show the university has the highest enrollment in its history.

Lamar’s record headcount was set with 15,022 students, up .4 percent over last fall’s 14,966.

“Even though the number increase is relatively modest, up 71, we are delighted to see the continued growth trend,” said Kevin Smith, senior associate provost.  “Semester credit hours fell slightly, down 1.98 percent, totaling 128,191 hours.”

The largest growth among the academic colleges was in the College of Arts and Sciences that saw a 3 percent growth, lead by nursing enrollments which are up 7.8 percent over last year. The College of Education and Human Development grew 2.1 percent, the College of Fine Arts and Communication is up 2 percent, and the College of Business grew .4 percent.

Doctoral students increased 1.87 percent to 382 from 375 in 2015. Master’s students dropped 4.54 percent to 4,336 from 4,542 in 2015. In undergraduate, Freshmen are up 2.7 percent, Sophomores up 1.63 percent, Juniors up 1.42 percent, and Seniors up .92 percent over last fall.

LU’s first-time graduate numbers are up 18.7 percent. At the undergraduate level, first-time-in-college enrollments fell 1.74 percent but transfer students were up 10.3 percent, and continuing students grew 1.46 percent.

“On balance, our fall 2016 enrollment is healthy and builds on patterns observed in previous years,” Smith said.  

As of the 20^th class day, 13,143 students from Texas, 833 from out-of-state, and 1,044 international students are enrolled for Fall 2016.