A&T Headcount Jumps Historically on Strength of 37% Spike in First-Year Enrollment

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Sept. 3, 2021) – More than 13,300 students are enrolled at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University this fall – the largest headcount ever for the 130-year-old university, campus leaders announced today.

Those students are the university’s most academically high-performing ever, with an average GPA of 3.7 and average SAT score of nearly 1,079.

The overall enrollment of 13,322 marks North Carolina A&T’s eighth consecutive year of growth, as well as the eighth straight year it has been the largest historically black university (HBCU) in the nation. Though the new student body includes growth at nearly every rank and level, a surge in first-year students was the major driver of this year’s increase: 2,930 freshmen are enrolled this fall, a 37.17% jump over 2020.

The new enrollment pushes A&T closer than ever to its Fall 2023 goal of 14,000 students – a number that Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr., has said A&T is well on track to meet. A&T has grown by 25% under the leadership of Martin, who joined A&T as chancellor in June 2009, while the average entering GPA has increased from 3.06 to 3..7

“We set ambitious and strategic goals for the expansion of our university because we know that as a doctoral, land-grant, research institution, we could and should have greater impact on the education of our students and upon the communities we serve,” said Martin. “It’s important to understand that this growth is enhancing quality and academic performance, not undermining it. We are attracting the highest-performing high school graduates in the history of our university, both from North Carolina and beyond.

“In so doing, we’re making major contributions to a highly educated, well-prepared and diverse work force and entrepreneurial sector for our state.”

The new enrollment figures come on the heels of new collegiate rankings released by Washington Monthly earlier this week that named A&T the top-ranked HBCU in the country and one of the country’s top 135 national universities overall.

Other highlights of the 2021 Fall enrollment report include:

• For the third consecutive year, graduate student enrollment likewise climbed, from 1,623 in 2020 to 1,726 – an increase of 6.35% and A&T’s largest graduate enrollment ever. That growth was driven by a 12.16% increase in new doctoral students. With new online master’s and Ph.D. programs ready to launch this year, further graduate student growth is imminent.
• Nearly 11,600 undergraduates are enrolled at A&T, significantly more than last year’s 11,130 total. A&T is now 846 students over its 2023 goal of 10,750 undergraduates.
• Enrollment at the transfer student level continued to climb, as well, with growth of 2% this fall. A&T’s student body now includes 780 new transfer students.

“The outstanding academic programs and faculty of our university continue to make it a destination of choice for students, scholars, faculty and researchers around the nation and beyond,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Beryl C. McEwen. “It’s exciting to see our aspirations for North Carolina A&T come to fruition, and to see that interest in the university shared by so many accomplished individuals.”