FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Susan Hammons–Sept. 16, 2004
(936) 468-2041

SFA retention, diversity, graduate enrollment up for fall

Stephen F. Austin State University is retaining first-time freshmen at a higher rate, while continuing to grow diversity and the number of graduate students, figures released today by the university show.

Preliminary figures show that the retention rate of first-time, full-time freshmen who began at the university last year was 66 percent this fall, compared to 60 percent the year prior.

“We were extremely pleased to see this increase of 6 percentage points in just one year,” said President Tito Guerero III. “This is a reflection of initiatives to increase student success outlined in our strategic plan and of increased admission standards implemented last fall.”

“A relatively small decline in our total enrollment also reflects the increased admission standards as well as increased costs,” he added.

This fall, 11,287 students are enrolled at SFA, a 1.1 percent decrease from 11,408 in fall 2003. However, graduate enrollment this fall is 1,719, a 3.5 percent increase from fall 2003.

Three programs, in particular, helped boost the graduate enrollment. Those were the school mathematics teaching master’s offered under a National Science Foundation grant, the master’s in resource interpretation offered by the College of Forestry in conjunction with the National Parks Services, and increased recruiting efforts for the master’s in social work.

The university also registered increases in the number of Hispanic, American Indian, Asia/Pacific Islander and African American students, which is in line with the state’s Closing the Gaps goals.

Another effect of increased admission standards is standardized test scores of freshmen. The average ACT score at SFA this fall was 20.9, which was higher than the Texas average of 20.2 and even with the national average of 20.9. This was the highest score for SFA freshmen in more than 10 years.

The average SAT score this fall was 999, which also was higher than the Texas average of 992.

Among retention efforts the university implemented this last year was Achieving Collegiate Excellence (ACE), which matched a small percentage of the freshmen class with a faculty mentor. Also, in a new learning skills course, students experiencing academic difficulties worked with graduate student mentors and learned skills such as how to study and how to manage their time.