Enrollment data from the spring semester may indicate that Ball State students are becoming more successful.
The number of returning freshmen has reached an all-time high, which might indicate that students are experiencing more of a connection with the university, Dean of Students Randy Hyman said.
The percentage of freshmen who enrolled in the fall and returned in the spring has climbed above 90 percent for the first time in several years.
"This is good news for the university because it means that students are being more successful," Douglas McConkey, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said.
Students are performing better academically this year, too, McConkey said.
"Our freshmen class is much larger and fewer students were disqualified for academic reasons this year," he said.
"This is a great joy, but it is not really a surprise," Hyman said. "The numbers have been increasing over the last several years."
Reasons for the increase vary. Hyman cited greater student involvement, tougher admission standards and more willingness to learn on the part of students for the increase. McConkey said the increase is the work of the students themselves.
"They are more involved, and they are doing better academically. Our freshmen class is much larger, and the number of freshmen who were academically disqualified was lower," he said. "Our whole intent is to get students to be successful. It is largely their own doing."
Hyman also mentioned Ball State's marketing campaigns in recent years.
"The marketing campaigns are doing well because what they advertise is accurate," he said.
"This reaffirmed our commitment to be a good university for a high quality undergraduate program. We have wonderful support programs to aid students here at Ball State," Hyman said.
One such support program is Freshmen Connections. The idea behind Freshmen Connections is to link classes with residence halls. The idea is that such a system would encourage studying and alleviate adjustment problems.
"Retention has been going up and so has the quality of our students," Thomas Lowe, associate provost and dean of University College, said. "Half of the increase is due to better students, and half of the increase is due to something else. We would like to think that Freshmen Connections has a lot to do with that something else."
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