Illustration by Corey Brigh
Tessa Case – News Editor
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This academic year holds a record number of enrolled students for UAB, including the largest freshman class in history.
According to a press release from UAB Media Relations, record recruitment and retention rates has bolstered the number of students up by 1,202, reaching a record number of 19,535 enrolled students for the fall 2016 semester. This is a 6.56 percent increase from fall 2015, with a 24.7 percent increase to the freshman class alone. Retention rate increased 3.1 percent, which Barnes said hasn’t occurred in 12 years.
“Coming into this position last July, we had to make some decisions,” Bradley Barnes, the vice provost for enrollment management, said. “We had to review where we are and where we want to be. That’s when President Ray Watts set the goal of having 20,000 students enrolled by 2018.”
Barnes said the record exceeded his expectations. When reviewing the number of students enrolled and retained last year, he said UAB wasn’t where it wanted to be with either category. In order to combat this, UAB implemented several programs to fill in what Barnes described as the gap between the experience students were receiving inside the classroom and the resources available to them outside of the classroom. These programs include exploratory advising for undeclared majors, creating an office specifically devoted to retention, having all freshman live on campus and other programs such as Blazing Start.
Blazing Start, an enrollment initiative, will give area high school graduates greater access to UAB and financial resources and connects them to appropriate support services to facilitate academic success, according to Jim Bakken in an article from UAB News. The scholarship available to participants is up to $10,500 over the course of four years for any high school graduate of Birmingham city schools who enrolls at UAB the fall immediately following their graduation. Barnes said participation has increased from 28 to 92 students from fall 2015 to the current year, and has an 86 percent retention rate, which is higher than the overall university rate.
“If they bring in that retention rate, they will boost our retention rates overall,” Barnes said.
Other changes include reformatting the way scholarships are delivered to be more competitive, Barnes said. In order for a student to receive full tuition, the required ACT score has dropped from 32 to 30. According to Barnes, 90 more students were able to receive the scholarship, and he believes this can also help increase retention rates by taking the stress off of students who might have otherwise had to find a job or two in order to pay for college.
“Opening up scholarships to the top end allows us to let in students who may not have the best ACT or SAT scores, but have the GPA, the work ethic and the commitment to be successful,” Barnes said.
Out of state and international enrollment has increased by 13.7 percent and 18.6 percent over the last year, respectively, according to the press release. Four new out of state recruiters have been working in California, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas in addition to the out of state recruiter who has already been working in northern Chicago. The majority of out of state students come from Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Florida, despite not having a recruiter in Florida.
International student enrollment has increased with the introduction of the INTO program, and the fact that most international students enroll in STEM majors, according to Barnes.
“I talk about the medical school, and it’s okay to not be interested in the medical school,” Barnes said. “But if I had one way to brand UAB, it would be the interdisciplinary options available because of the medical school.”
These programs include, but are not limited to, biomedical engineering, a degree that only UAB offers in the state of Alabama, as well as the nation’s top dual master in public health and an MBA in public health, Barnes said. Other options available to STEM students who may not want to work in the medical field include UAB Teach, a program designed for STEM students who want to teach at the secondary level.
“Building our team strategically has been effective,” Barnes said in the press release. “We are also bringing guidance counselors to campus, getting great results with our recruitment materials and expanding opportunities for students to earn scholarships.”
Students, such as Juhi Shah, a biomedical sciences major and Trailblazer, are very excited for the future of UAB.
“I believe UAB has accommodated to the largest freshman class to ever enter this UAB family,” she said. “Our growth as a university doesn’t just stop at the addition of majors or new buildings, we are ever growing in diversity in every aspect at this university.”
UAB is one of the most diverse universities in the nation, and has been recognized by the Princeton review for diversity, according to the press release. 37.8 percent of students are minorities, with 43.7 percent of the freshman class being a minority. The population is also 21.4 percent black and 61.1 percent female. Students enrolled also now represent 105 countries.
“I think that UAB is in one of the most exciting eras in its history, and that [students]are a part of something special and they should all be proud to be Blazers,” Barnes said. “The more we can keep this out there in front of them, the more we can keep the momentum going.”
