By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Kentucky has announced some historic numbers for the fall semester, including record enrollment.
Preliminary figures show UK’s enrollment topped 31,000 for the first time at 31,057, a nearly two percent increase over last year. Also, the retention rate, which is the percentage of students who return for their second year, is at 86.4 percent, nearly 1.5 percent higher than the last academic year and about 5 percent higher than in Fall 2016.
UK President Eli Capilouto says the numbers are an important indication of being a first-choice academic institution.
“Students and families, even in a time of so much anxiety and uncertainty, are choosing the University of Kentucky because we place students and their success at the center of everything that we do,” he stated. “A college education will be even more important in the future, as our economy changes, requiring more skills and more nimbleness. That’s what an education at UK provides: the critical thinking capacity and toolkit of skills needed to succeed in a world where change is the only real constant.”
Breaking down the preliminary numbers, which will be final in October when a report is made to the state:
• UK’s enrollment of 31,057 is up from 30,545 last year.
• Retention rates have increased steadily for five years, a number that signals the movement of graduation rates, the most important indicator of student success. UK now is at an all-time high for six-year graduation rates, according to last year’s figure of 66.1 percent.
• UK is more diverse than at any time in its more than 155-year history. About 2,100 (nearly seven percent) of students are Black, an increase of over seven percent from last year. Hispanic or Latino students now comprise about 5 percent of the student body with about 1,600 students, up more than 10 percent over last year.
• The first-year class for Fall 2020 is almost 5,000 students (4,961), nearly 500 more than what UK was projecting this summer as it prepared for potential economic shocks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That figure is down about seven percent from last year’s record first-year enrollment, likely an indication of economic uncertainty and concerns, UK officials said.
• The percentage of Black and Hispanic or Latino students in the first-year class increased slightly — 7.2 percent among Blacks for this year compared to 7.0 percent last year; 6.7 percent for Hispanic and Latino students compared to 6.5 percent last year.
Despite the enrollment growth, it does not provide any substantive budget relief for the institution, officials said. UK has expended millions of dollars to ensure preparedness and safety in response to the global pandemic and to continue to ensure affordability and access.
That included capping tuition and mandatory fees for all full-time undergraduate students regardless of how many in-class or online classes a student is taking. UK officials estimate the change will cost the university about $5 million in lost tuition revenue.
“The numbers show our promise and potential for service, but we are not satisfied,” Capilouto said. “We must continue to grow and position UK to thrive as we emerge from this crisis — stronger, more diverse and accepting and poised to provide the education our Commonwealth needs from us as the University of, for and with Kentucky.”
