Official 2006 enrollment figures indicate that 10,025 students are enrolled at the University of Southern Indiana this fall. Those students are taking 123,673 credit hours, up 1.7 percent over last year.

Enrollment is up in continuing undergraduate and graduate students. There are 2,105 first-time students in the freshman class, the third year in a row of over 2,100 students in the entering class.

Female students represent 61 percent of the students, a figure that has been constant in recent years. Traditional-age (25 years of age and under) students are in the majority at 7,826.

Diversity continues as a goal for the University. Of students enrolled, 473 are African American, 98 Hispanic, and 102 Asian.

Dr. Robert Parrent, vice president for Student Affairs, said this year’s freshman class is better prepared. Freshmen earned 952 departmental scholarships, up from 829 last year. The class has 54 high school valedictorians from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and California including 23 from Vanderburgh, Warrick, Gibson, and Posey counties; 14 are from Evansville high schools. There are 133 students in the class who automatically qualify for the Honors Program.

The freshman class has 204 21st Century Scholars and more students are coming from Kentucky. Two of the students are International Baccalaureate scholars from Apollo High School in Owensboro, Kentucky.

The majority of students, 6,181, continue to come from Vanderburgh and contiguous counties. Students from other Indiana counties number 2,724.