Growing the student body

Despite steady growth, FAU’s student body has remained in the middle of the Florida pack over the past decade. Graphic by Brandon Ballenger.

September 19, 2011

floridaenrollment01-10 — Despite steady growth, FAU's student body has remained in the middle of the Florida pack over the past decade. Graphic by Brandon Ballenger.

florida10yearstats — As other state universities have grown, FAU's share of Florida students has declined from 9.5% to 8.8% over the past 10 years. Graphic by Brandon Ballenger.

FAU has officially grand-slammed the record books for Fall 2011 in terms of student enrollment. There are now almost as many students as there are seats in the new stadium.The university announced earlier this month that the total student count (both graduate and undergraduate) has passed the 29,400 mark, of which 3,300 are freshmen.

Those freshmen have an average GPA of 3.4, an average SAT score of 1597 and an average ACT score of 23.2, according to FAU.

“FAU is now a university of first-choice, and these numbers clearly indicate that,” said Gitanjali Kaul, vice president for strategic planning at the university.

fauenrollmentvtuition95-11 — Since 1995, tuition has gone up 194% while enrollment has risen 63%. Graphic by Brandon Ballenger.

fau15yearstats — 2006 is the only time in the past 15 years enrollment declined at FAU, while tuition has risen steadily throughout and sharply since 2008. Graphic by Brandon Ballenger.

Along with larger enrollment comes more dorm space. This semester saw the opening of the Innovation Village Apartment Complex, with 1,216 beds. Nearby, FAU’s 30,000-seat stadium is set to open Oct.15. The $70 million dollar project will serve as the new home for the Owl football team.

For a closer look at historical figures from FAU and how it compares with other state universities, click on the graphics.