MOBILE -- The University of South Alabama grew faster than any other public university in the state of Alabama this year, according to new statistics from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

The University’s fall enrollment was up 4.4 percent from one year ago, and USA was the only public university in the state to experience growth in both graduate and undergraduate enrollment, ACHE data indicates.

USA and the University of Alabama main campus are the only two of Alabama’s 16 public universities which saw significant growth from fall 1999 to fall 2000. UA was up 2.9 percent from one year ago. Enrollments at Alabama’s public universities were down an average of 1.6 percent during the same time period, according to ACHE figures.

The ACHE data reflects USA’s fall enrollment as an increase of 488 students, or 4.4 percent, from fall 1999. ACHE does not include medical residents and interns in its figures. USA’s fall 2000 enrollment including residents and interns totals 11,870.

President Gordon Moulton attributed USA’s increase to a combination of greater awareness of the University’s quality, increased academic scholarship opportunities for new and returning students, and improved recruiting and retention efforts.

“Today’s college students are intelligent consumers who are seeking a high quality education that prepares them for life after college,” said Moulton. “We are pleased that increasing numbers of students are seeing the University of South Alabama as a place that provides the quality and variety of academic programs that they desire, as well as a positive atmosphere for learning.”

Here are some additional fall 2000 enrollment highlights at USA:

• USA saw a 10.7 percent increase in students from Baldwin County from last year.
  
• USA recorded the largest percentage and net increase in graduate student enrollment among the state’s public colleges and universities, up 15 percent to a record 2,184.
  
• USA this fall enrolled the largest freshman class in its history, up 17.2 percent from one year ago. This year’s entering class of 1,342 set a record in number of students with high ACT scores, with 250 new freshmen scoring 26 or higher on the standardized college entrance examination.
  
• USA currently provides more than 1,700 academic scholarships to its students at all levels. This number was bolstered by the Abraham Mitchell Scholarship program in the Mitchell College of Business and a new USA scholarship program approved by the Board of Trustees last December.
  
• More than 700 of USA’s students this year are taking Internet or computer-based courses.
  
• Nursing saw the greatest one-year increase among USA’s schools and colleges, with combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment up 13.2 percent to 945. Computer and Information Sciences grew 8.8 percent to 691; Education was up 8.6 percent to 2,341; and the Mitchell College of Business was up 7.5 percent to 1,771. Arts and Sciences remained USA’s largest school at 3,223 students. Other enrollments include Allied Health Professions, 1,221; Engineering, 849; Medicine 494; and Continuing Education and Special Programs, 335.
  
• The USA freshman class included valedictorians from at least five area high schools: Davidson, Citronelle, Murphy, Vigor and Baldwin County. USA drew freshmen from approximately 300 high schools nationwide. Below is a list of top feeder schools to USA, with number of USA freshmen from these schools in parentheses:

Baker (74) McGill-Toolen (59) Murphy (53) Davidson (52) Theodore (47) Mary G. Montgomery (44) Satsuma (35) LeFlore (31) Mobile Christian (25) Alma Bryant (23) Faith Academy (23) Shaw (20)

Daphne (19) Vigor (19) Fairhope (17) Citronelle (14) J.M. Tate (Pensacola) (12) Robertsdale (11) Grissom (Huntsville) (10) Long Beach (Miss.) (10) Pensacola (10) Saint Paul’s (9) UMS Wright (8)

USA this past year graduated a total of 2,205 students, with alumni to date now numbering 45,353.