Martin expanding NCA&T’s enrollment with freshman classes that have 3.0+ average GPAs

NCA&T Chancellor Harold Martin shakes hands with U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham in 2015

North Carolina A&T University (NCA&T) Chancellor Harold Martin hasn’t placed quality aside as he has expanded enrollment. He reversed the school’s decline in students in Fall 2014 after two straight years of falling enrollment caused by the federal financial aid program overhaul. The freshman, first-time student classes that Martin enrolled in Fall 2014 and Fall 2015 both had 3.0+ average GPAs in high school.

The NCA&T Institutional Research freshman profile data shows that the freshman classes in Fall 2014 and Fall 2015 both had an average high school GPA of 3.28.

The freshman, first-time student classes at FAMU had slightly higher average GPAs at 3.34 in Fall 2014 and 3.40 in Fall 2015. That’s a difference of 0.06 and a 0.12 with NCA&T for those two years.

But the biggest difference is in the effect on the financial condition of the two universities.

North Carolina A&T gained a $4M boost in tuition and fees in Fall 2014. It enrolled 10,725 students in that fall.

FAMU had 10,233 students in Fall 2014, which was a loss of 505 from the previous fall. The Florida auditor general said that: “Net student tuition and fees decreased by $9.2 million, or 17.1 percent, as compared to the 2013-2014 fiscal year. This decrease was due primarily to a decline in enrollment.”

NCA&T saw its enrollment go up again in Fall 2015 to a total of 10,852. It is expecting more enrollment growth in Fall 2016.

FAMU’s enrollment in Fall 2015 dropped to 9,920 (down from 10,233 in Fall 2014) under President Elmira Mangum. The decline cost FAMU $9M+ from tuition and fee losses. FAMU expects to lose about another $10M due to its projected loss of 920 students in 2016-2017.

NCA&T has increased its enrollment with strong in-state students while competing against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which has a higher U.S. News & World Report ranking (#30) than any university in Florida. NCA&T also competes against four in-state public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which are North Carolina Central, Winston-Salem State, Fayetteville State, and Elizabeth City State. 

FAMU is the only public HBCU in Florida. None of the public universities it competes against are ranked as high as UNC Chapel Hill on the U.S. News list. The University of Florida is #47 and Florida State is #96. No excuse is acceptable for the continuing enrollment decline at FAMU.