The figure reflects 15,885 undergraduate and 4,137 graduate students, which includes 2908 entering freshmen, 1536 new transfer students and 1176 new graduate students. The enrollment figures also reflect a six percent increase in both Hispanic and African American students.
Montclair State University reported today that its student enrollment for fall 2014 has reached 20,022, setting a record high in the University’s 106-year history. The figure reflects 15,885 undergraduate and 4,137 graduate students, which includes 2908 entering freshmen, 1536 new transfer students and 1176 new graduate students. The enrollment figures also reflect a six percent increase in both Hispanic and African American students.
“With more than 20,000 students, Montclair State remains New Jersey’s second largest university. This fall, our students have come from every county in New Jersey, from 16 states and from many foreign countries,” says Montclair State University President Susan A. Cole. “We are proud to have attracted such a very strong, highly diverse and talented class of students this year.”
According to Cole, the record-high enrollment comes during a time of exceptional growth at the University in the last few years. To begin, the newly enrolled students will be among the first to learn and study in two cutting-edge academic facilities, now in the final phases of construction. A 107,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art Center for Environmental and Life Sciences and a 143,000-square-foot School of Business building will be fully operational at the beginning of the fall semester in 2015.
Partial funding for the these projects comes from nearly $94 million awarded to the University by the state through the $750-million “Building Our Future” Bond Act approved by voters in 2012. Montclair State received more funding than any other senior public or private institution, with only public research universities receiving larger amounts. The University also was one of the first schools to start construction.
Three years ago, the University opened The Heights, a new residence and dining complex, which provides housing for nearly 2,000 students. The Heights was the first public-private partnership to be initiated under the 2009 NJ Economic Stimulus Act. Earlier this summer, the PSEG Foundation announced a $1 million grant over three years to the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies at Montclair State in support of research and educational programs designed to foster a sustainable, more resilient New Jersey.
This year’s entering students will be able to take advantage of new degree programs, such as the new bachelor’s degree program in journalism that is being offered for the first time this fall by the University’s School of Communication and Media. It joins the 300 majors, minors, concentrations and certificate programs offered by Montclair State’s six schools and colleges.
Cole noted that the entering freshmen are the last students the University required to submit SAT or ACT test scores with their applications. This fall, the University became the first New Jersey public university to make the submission of standardized test scores optional.
“We are now certain that the most powerful predictor of college success is a student’s performance in high school and, in particular, the high school GPA and the rigor of the courses taken,” says Cole. “The new admissions protocol will better support our mission of serving a talented and striving student population that reflects the full socio-economic and ethnic diversity of New Jersey.”
Montclair State joins more than 800 of the nation’s leading colleges and universities, a group that constitutes about 30 percent of the nation’s schools that grant baccalaureate degrees and that includes Temple University, Wake Forest University, Wesleyan University, University of Arizona and George Mason University.
