Record Enrollment at UGA

Aerial time-lapse photography of Athens over the past week would have looked something akin to an invasion of fire ants, although perhaps even more erratic and confused. Of course it was only the annual, late-summer arrival of University of Georgia students. But if this fall’s infestation strikes you as unusually prolific, you aren’t imagining things.

Fall semester classes open at UGA today. A record first-year class of more than 5,500 began moving into freshman dorms last Monday, while returning students streamed in over the course of the week. 

South Milledge Avenue was once again the stage for Panhellenic sorority recruitment activities as over 1,200 women vied for just under 1,000 spots available at 17 sororities. Traffic on Milledge, and elsewhere, crept along much like on a home football Saturday.

Although final enrollment numbers have yet to be released, it appears likely that more than 35,000 UGA students will be among us this fall, several hundred more than last year’s enrollment of 34,667. UGA administrators say they didn’t intend to set an all-time record, it just happened that way.

The Georgia legislature’s decision to reduce Hope Scholarship funding led admissions officials to predict a lower than usual matriculation rate. Typically, about half the applicants admitted have ended up enrolling at UGA. With the target freshman class size standing at 5,000 students, UGA has in recent years offered admission to about 10,000 applicants. This year closer to 10,300 were admitted, to cover the expected shortfall. And when the acceptance rate actually increased, a record-setting total enrollment was unavoidable, officials said.

The large first-year class produced anxieties among housing staff due to UGA’s requirement that all freshmen live on campus, meaning several hundred additional rooms had to be found. An early proposal to house students at UGA’s new Health Sciences campus at the former U.S. Navy Supply Corps School site was dismissed because much of the property is under renovation.

In the end, about a hundred upperclassmen were convinced to give up their rooms and move off campus and study lounges at several residence halls were temporarily converted into dorm rooms, according to UGA officials.

Also feeling an impact from the record freshman class has been UGA’s inaugural First-Year Odyssey seminar program, intended to engage new students in the university’s learning culture through a small class format and close student-faculty interaction.

Limited to 18 students, no few than 329 different Odyssey seminars are being offered this semester to accommodate the record number enrollment, UGA officails said. The classes are being taught by tenured and tenure-track faculty on a wide range of topics.

This year’s freshmen class also stands out for bringing UGA improved levels of diversity. Composed of some 4,900 graduates of Georgia high schools as well as about 600 out-of-state and international students, the class includes more than 480 African-Americans (representing about 8.7 percent of the class) and 300 Hispanics (5.4 percent of the class), both new high totals, UGA officials said.