UCA continues enrollment momentum with spring 2025

CONWAY, AR, UNITED STATES, February 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The University of Central Arkansas continued its strong enrollment trend as total spring course enrollment increased nearly 4% from spring to spring. Following a fall 2024 semester that saw record freshman enrollment growth, overall enrollments were largely fueled by freshman spring enrollment gains of 19.7%

Overall spring enrollment increased to 9,152 in spring 2025, up from 8,905 in the previous year’s spring semester. Within this growth, first-time freshman enrollment increased by more than 40% compared to a year ago as an additional 50 new freshman students started their academic studies in January at UCA.

“First-time freshman enrollment is an area of focus for UCA, as we know many Arkansans continue to see the opportunity and transformation that a college education at UCA offers. We are especially excited that the efforts we have in place for first-generation students resonate with potential students as does our UCA Commitment program,” said UCA President Houston Davis. “Those students are seeing opportunities across all of our majors as the university experienced undergraduate growth in all five academic colleges with the College of Business experiencing the largest enrollment increase of 6.1%.”

The College of Science and Engineering also experienced significant growth by 5.7%. UCA established the college in 2024 after receiving ABET accreditation for the engineering physics program. ABET accredits college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology. Two other UCA programs have received ABET accreditation. The Bachelor of Science in computer science received accreditation in 2006. The university’s cybersecurity program was the first in Arkansas to receive ABET accreditation.

Early signs are positive for fall 2025 enrollment as applications and admits for next year’s freshman class are pacing 7% ahead of last year’s record-setting numbers. Additionally, early registrations for Summer Orientation, Advising, and Registration (SOAR) are 30% higher than this time last year. That number is expected to increase as those interested in SOAR may still apply at https://uca.edu/fye/soar/.

“These latest data points are strong indicators that UCA is on the right path and likely looking at a second consecutive year of record freshman enrollments,” Davis said. “UCA has worked diligently in recent years through our Resource Optimization Initiative to find innovative ways to maximize our resources and support student success and retention. We believe these strategies are paying off as more families, parents and students see UCA as a destination institution.”
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ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Founded in 1907, the University of Central Arkansas is a premier student-focused public university located in Conway, Arkansas. UCA has nearly 150 academic programs and certificates within the colleges of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Behavioral Sciences; and Science and Engineering; and the Graduate School. To learn more about UCA, visit uca.edu, or through social media at Facebook, X, YouTube or Instagram.

Fredricka Sharkey
University of Central Arkansas
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