Last year, Rattler Nation reported that FAMU was on track to reach 14,000 students by Summer 2011. It turns out that this blog’s prediction was a bit too conservative. FAMU actually surpassed the 14,000 student mark by more than 700, coming close to a total of 15,000.FAMU finished the fiscal year ending (FYE) in 2011 with an unduplicated headcount of 14,702 students, an increase of 1,418 over Fall 2010.
Fall headcounts are generally lower than the year-end headcounts because some FAMU students do not register for classes every semester. Nontraditional students who balance school and fulltime work are part of this group.
The university’s Fall 2011 enrollment slightly dipped due to tighter admissions standards and new preparatory requirements for students admitted through the profile assessment process. President James H. Ammons told the Board of Trustees that FAMU rejected almost 2,000 applications. He said that the university plans to enroll more students in the Spring, including new community college transfers.
The current student body is still smaller than FAMU’s classroom capacity. In 1997, President Frederick S. Humphries and then-Provost Ammons announced their goal of expanding FAMU’s student body to at least 15,000 by 2003. After the Board of Regents approved the plan, FAMU based its classroom building construction on that anticipated number.
When Ammons took over as president in 2007, he recommitted FAMU to getting its enrollment up to 15,000, the number it was supposed to reach years ago.
The enrollment boosts are a critical part of Ammons’ strategy to increase the university’s budget and maintain financial stability. FAMU used funds from last year’s enrollment increase to provide a $1,000 base salary raise for university personnel.
Florida Auditor General David W. Martin recently patted FAMU on the back for using enrollment growth to fill in the funding gap created by legislative cuts.
“Improving the economic outlook will require a legislative commitment to ensure proper funding of higher education,” Martin wrote in FAMU’s recent financial audit report. “The growth in enrollment will play a key role in continuous financial stability for [FAMU].”
Recent Enrollment Trends
Fall 2008: 11,857
Total FYE 2009: 13,146
Net Increase: 1,289
Fall 2009: 12,274
Total FYE 2010: 13,642
Net Increase: 1,395
Fall 2010: 13,284
Total FYE 2011: 14,702
Net Increase: 1,418
Fall 2011: 13,209
Source: FAMU Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reports.