newsnews

ACT scores up, black enrollment down in freshman class

By OANow Staff
Published: September 12, 2008

A clear picture of the new Auburn University freshman class is emerging as the school year gets under way.

The two most notable changes with this year’s enrolling class are the almost one-point increase in the average ACT score, and a drop in black enrollment, according to Drew Clark, director of Auburn’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

The average ACT score rose from 24.8 in 2007, to 25.9 in 2008. The ACT grading scale ranges from 1 to 36.

Over two years the score has jumped 1.6 points.

“(It is) really a notable increase,” Clark said.

The score is something of an indicator of how well a student will do, he said.

In 2008, the national average for the ACT was 21.1.

Black enrollment in the first-time freshman class dropped from 474 in 2007 to 225 in 2008.

Wayne Alderman, dean of enrollment, said one reason for the drop is the competitive recruitment of black students with ACT scores in AU’s score range.

“The students with ACT score we look for, the African-American students who have those scores, are very highly recruited, not just by us, but by everyone,” he said. “We have got to do a better job of recruiting.”

Alderman said the university is doing a number of things to increase the number of black students, including bringing in high school counselors from schools with large black student populations and devoting staff to the issue.

By the numbers

-- The highest enrollment ever at AU is this year’s 24,531.

-- There are 20,038 undergraduates, 974 professional students and 3,519 graduate students.

-- 20,272 students are Caucasian.

-- 2,020 are black.

-- The first-time freshman class has 1,917 males and 2,175 females.

-- The freshman class has 225 blacks, 3,512 Caucasians, and 95 Hispanics, followed by Asians (unreported), native Americans and non-resident aliens.