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Enrollment at the University of Memphis continued to grow this fall. At the close of the last day to add classes, the number of students who had registered was 23,031. That is an increase of 1,119 students, or 5 percent, over the same time last year.

The undergraduate student population is 17,963, up by 903 over last fall’s undergraduate figures.

This year’s graduate enrollment is 4,635, an increase of 200 over last fall.

Law school enrollment this year is 433, 4 percent greater than last fall.

Freshmen showed the greatest growth within any single classification, increasing by 476 students, or 11 percent.

These numbers continue a trend established this past summer, which saw a 52-student increase over the summer of 2009. Also during the summer, the University had its largest Summer Orientation program ever, with 2,350 new and transfer students attending, versus 2,017 in the summer of 2009. That was in line with this summer’s 7.2% increase in freshman applications and 6.32% increase in applications by transfer students.

Discrete programs reflect the same upward slant. The Helen Hardin Honors Program, for example, last year numbered 1,486; as of Sept. 7 this year, the program had 1,658 students enrolled, making it the largest honors program in Tennessee. The entering class of honors students, too, is larger; this year’s first-year honors class numbers 435 freshmen, compared to 396 last year.

University administrators attribute the growth to several factors, including increased emphasis on retention of existing students as well as greater efforts to recruit students to the University. Many honors students indicated that the availability to them of the newly-opened Living Learning Complex was a factor in their decision to attend the University of Memphis.

Dr. Ralph Faudree, provost (chief academic official) of the University, said of the numbers, “It’s very exciting for the University of Memphis to have its largest first year class, a record number of students in the Honors Program, and the largest enrollment in our history.”