MOBILE -- After leading the state’s colleges and universities in enrollment growth for the fall semester, the University of South Alabama has experienced an even larger percentage increase for spring semester, representing USA’s largest spring enrollment since going on the semester system.

USA’s 2001 spring semester total enrollment of 11,447 is up 613 students, or 5.7 percent, from one year ago. Graduate student enrollment saw a 14 percent increase to 2,175. USA’s students are also taking more classes, with credit hours up more than 7 percent from spring 2000.

“Today’s college students are intelligent consumers who are seeking a high quality education that prepares them for life after college,” said USA President Gordon Moulton.

“We are pleased to see sustained growth in our enrollment which suggests that increasing numbers of students are finding the University of South Alabama to be a place that provides the quality and variety of programs that they desire, as well as a positive atmosphere for successful learning,” Moulton said.

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.

Comparing this spring to last, Nursing saw the greatest one-year increase among USA’s colleges and schools, with combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment up 18.5 percent to 918. The Mitchell College of Business grew 14 percent to 1,748; Computer and Information Sciences grew 8.8 percent to 693; Education was up 6.7 percent to 2,332; Arts and Sciences was up 4.8 percent to 3,016; and Engineering grew 1 percent to 812. Other enrollments include Allied Health Professions, 1,140; Medicine, 483; and Continuing Education and Special Programs, 305.

As reported earlier, USA grew faster than any other public university in the state this fall, according to 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 reflected USA’s fall enrollment as an increase of 488 students, or 4.4 percent, from fall 1999. USA’s fall 2000 enrollment including residents and interns totaled 11,870.

USA in the past academic year graduated 2,205 students, with alumni to date now numbering 46,194.

USA this fall enrolled the largest freshman class in its history, up 17.2 percent from one year ago, and attracted a record number of graduate students. Graduate enrollment saw a 15 percent increase to 2,184. USA’s 1,342 new freshmen this fall topped a 12-year-old record of 1,330 set in 1988. This fall’s entering class also 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 converted from the quarter to the semester system in 1998.