UA Chancellor Charles Robinson said strong recruiting pipelines helped the university surpass 33,000 in enrollment. (Michael Woods)
Advertisement
The state’s largest universities saw fall enrollment increase this year as each prepares for the coming enrollment cliff predicted to hit in 2026.
The University of Arkansas’ flagship campus in Fayetteville reported 33,610 students to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education for its “11th day” snapshot enrollment numbers. The number represented an increase of 4.6% and was the fourth consecutive year the university reported record enrollment.
The UA wasn’t alone as Arkansas State University in Jonesboro reported enrollment of 16,687, a 12% increase, and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock each reported gains of 3.4% or better.
UA Chancellor Charles Robinson noted that 6,614 of those 33,610 enrolled were incoming freshmen, the second-highest number in the school’s history behind the 2022 class of 7,096.
“I think we built strong pipelines throughout the state of Arkansas, which is our first focus,” Robinson said. “But it didn’t just start this year. We’ve had a trend of growth in our freshman classes that have been strong for a number of years.”
Advertisement
Todd Shields was named chancellor at Arkansas State in 2022 and almost immediately increased the university’s efforts to market the school and recruit students. The efforts have paid off with A-State reporting 16,687 for its 11th-day snapshot.
Todd Shields
“That’s a huge increase,” Shields said. “We basically really started just looking at everything that we did and doubling down on what we were doing with recruitment, doubling down on what we’re doing for advertising, making sure that people knew what was happening.”
Suzanne McCray, the vice provost for enrollment at UA-Fayetteville, said all universities and colleges in the state have worked to become as “cliff resistant” as possible. Changing demographics — primarily lower birth rates in the U.S. — are expected to result in fewer college-age students beginning in 2026.
“We did enjoy this fall, climbing up to the top of the crest, and next year, it’ll be good as well,” McCray said. “And then 2026-27 is when we’re going to notice a perceptible decline. We’re trying to be cliff resistant. I think larger institutions, research universities, that can draw from a wider number of states and wider area, I think they are going to have an easier time of it.”
Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment at UA-Fayetteville, said higher education institutions have worked hard to become cliff resistant by 2026, when it is expected a drop in college-aged students will cause enrollment numbers to fall. (Michael Woods)
Spread the Word
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock had the second-largest freshman class by percentage in its history. It welcomed 460 first-time freshmen, a 28.9% increase from a year ago and just shy of the 30% increase of the 2022 class. Chancellor Christina Drale said the university has tried to be creative in challenging times to bring in more students.
“We really knew that, in the current environment, when everyone is dealing with the same thing, we had to think outside the box,” Drale said. “You have to really develop all of your tools for marketing and for reaching out to new audiences.”
Drale said UA Little Rock’s success was a result of hitting its traditional recruiting areas in central Arkansas harder but also adding recruiters in newer areas such as northeast Texas and east Arkansas and the Memphis area.
Advertisement
Shields said marketing has been a big key to A-State’s success. He said he wasn’t aware of some of the advantages enjoyed by A-State and Jonesboro, such as the area’s booming steel industry, the low cost of living and educational opportunities that include a new veterinary school.
“If I didn’t know about it, how’s the average person in Arkansas supposed to know about it?” Shields, who came to Jonesboro from the U of A in Fayetteville, asked. “We did some testing and focus groups, and they didn’t know about it. So, it was just making sure that we let people know what a great education they can get here. And then when you look at tuition, fees, housing, meal plans and overall cost of living, we’re hard to beat. People often overlook Jonesboro.”
Fall enrollment at the UA-Fayetteville surpassed 33,000, including a record number of in-state students for the fourth consecutive year. (Michael Woods)
UA-Fayetteville, thanks to its scale, has a much wider recruiting footprint than others in the state, but Robinson said the university will always look inside the state’s borders first.
He said UA will never turn away a qualified in-state student.
The UA reported 16,519 Arkansas students among its enrollees, nearly as many as A-State’s entire student body.
“If anything, the cliff is just going to encourage us to work harder in Arkansas, because we never want to lose our primacy in Arkansas,” Robinson said.
Advertisement
Harder Times Ahead
McCray said the enrollment cliff will be more challenging for colleges and universities that draw from a smaller area.
Moses Goldmon
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff reported enrollment of 2,045, a 2.4% drop from a year ago. There were positives such as a 7% increase in new student enrollment, said Moses Goldmon, the university’s vice chancellor of enrollment management.
Goldmon said UAPB was hurt by a significant drop in retention numbers. The university reorganized its recruiting division and increased its recruiting efforts in spaces traditionally receptive to UAPB.
“With chagrin, I expect the cliff to present even greater challenges, particularly with respect to recruitment and admissions,” Goldmon said. “However, I also anticipate that our restructuring and evolving strategic enrollment management approach will help us be more competitive.
“If we can regain our pre-COVID momentum, where we saw increases in persistence, retention and graduation rates for several years, we should be able to stabilize and then grow our enrollment by focusing on excellent student service and student success.”
Robinson seized on the word “retention,” saying it was as important as recruiting in the higher education world. UA-Fayetteville reported a 70% graduation rate for its most recently completed class.
Advertisement
“It’s not just recruiting; it is holding students, retaining them,” Robinson said. “We have, as an institution, crashed past the 70% mark in our graduation rate for the first time in our history. There’s nobody in the state with that type of percentage. Our retention rate held at 86% for the second year in a row. So we’re doing better retaining students. We’re doing better graduating students.”
Drale said she was encouraged by the increase in UA Little Rock’s incoming freshmen class. If those students stay the course, that will stabilize numbers when the cliff comes into play, she said.
UA Little Rock also reported 786 transfer students, an 18% increase from a year ago.
“When you can get a significant bump in new freshmen and new transfers, that then increases your subsequent years,” Drale said. “The class, it goes through sort of the funnel, and it increases your enrollment for returning students in sub-sequent years. With a big increase in new freshmen and new transfers, we’re pretty excited about what that will mean for us long term.”
Arkansas quarterback signee Madden Iamaleava and receiver signee Jace Brown will make their official visits to Fayetteville this weekend.
Both flipped their commitments from UCLA on the Dec. 4 signing day.
Iamaleava, 6-3 and 200 pounds, of Long Beach Poly High School in California is rated a 4-star prospect by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals.
He also had offers from Tennessee, Oregon, SMU, Ole Miss, Washington and others.
Advertisement
Iamaleava the brother of Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, is rated the No. 13 pocket-passer quarterback and No. 143 overall recruit by ESPN.
Brown, 6-4 and 200-pounds, of Long Beach Poly High School in California had offers from Notre Dame, Arizona, Minnesota, UNLV, Utah and others.
He is a consensus 3-star recruit. Brown and Iamaleava plan to enroll at Arkansas in January. Neither signee has visited Fayetteville as recruits prior to signing with the team.
Iamaleava visited Fayetteville to watch his brother and the Volunteers take on Arkansas on Oct. 5.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 6 LSU (16-0, 1-0 SEC) opened SEC play with a resounding 98-64 win at Arkansas (7-9, 0-1 SEC) Thursday night in Bud Walton Arena.
“I could tell quickly that we were clicking on all cylinders,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “A lot of that had to do with our transition offense and long rebounds that gave everyone the green light down the court.”
Aneesah Morrow earned her 14th double-double of the season with an 11 point, 10 rebound showing. It was also her 88th career double-double, tied for the fourth most in NCAA DI history.
Flau’jae Johnson logged her 4th double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kailyn Gilbert posted 16 points on 7-12 shooting in 18 minutes of action and Mikaylah Williams scored 14 points and tacked on 2 rebounds and 1 steal.
Advertisement
Last-Tear Poa was effective too, going 3-4 for her first threes of the season and scoring 9 points with 6 assists.
Jersey Wolfenbarger, going up against her former team, scored 8 points with 5 rebounds. LSU was proactive throughout its whole roster Thursday night as all 12 players who were available scored.
“I was very impressed with Poa,” Coach Mulkey said. “We didn’t expect them to guard Poa and we thought they would double down on Morrow which they did, but Poa gained some confidence back tonight by hitting some shots.”
Arkansas was led by Izzy Higginbottom, who scored a game-high 27 points on 10-21 shooting. Vera Ojenuwa paced the Razorbacks with 8 rebounds. Arkansas shot just 36-percent and 31-percent from deep.
Williams opened the scoring for LSU in its first conference test. The Tigers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead over the Razorbacks after starting the contest an efficient 3-5 from the field.
Advertisement
LSU expanded its lead to double digits at 12-2 after Last-Tear Poa connected on her first three pointer of the season. The Arkansas offense strung together scoring possessions to go on an 8-0 run late in the first quarter.
LSU maintained production on the offensive end of the floor to end the first quarter with a 23-14 lead over the Razorbacks. Wolfenbarger led the Tigers in scoring with 6 points on 3-4 shooting in the first quarter. LSU was stifling on the defensive side and forced 7 Arkansas turnovers in the opening period.
Sa’Myah Smith got the Tigers started with a mid-range jumper to open the second quarter. LSU started the second period with a 9-4 scoring run and held Arkansas to a 2-5 shooting mark to begin the quarter.
Williams connected on a pull up three pointer to put the Tigers up 37-22 midway through the second. LSU held Arkansas scoreless in the last 4 minutes of the half to take a commanding 51-26 lead at halftime.
The Tigers saw offensive contribution from all around the lineup, as six players finished the half with 6 or more points. LSU was also efficient from three point range in the first half, shooting 5-9 from beyond the arc.
Advertisement
The Tigers were able to capitalize off of the 13 forced turnovers with 19 points coming from the defensive stops. LSU thrived on the fastbreak in the first half, as the Tigers scored 18 points on the break compared to Arkansas’ zero.
Morrow and Johnson both connected on buckets to kick off the second half for the Tigers. Poa connected on her third three pointer of the game to extend the LSU lead to 30 points with 7 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
LSU continued its dominance all throughout the third quarter, as the Tigers shot 7-11 in the first 5 minutes of the quarter and out rebounded the Razorbacks 7-1. LSU’s third quarter offensive barrage was led by Johnson, who scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting and grabbed 3 rebounds in the process.
The Tigers outscored the Razorbacks 32-10 in the third quarter to take an 83-36 lead with one quarter to play. LSU held Arkansas to 4-16 shooting in the third quarter and forced 7 turnovers.
The Tiger offense was efficient yet again with a 12-21 shooting mark in the third quarter to expand on the commanding lead.
Advertisement
Both Morrow and Johnson earned double-doubles in the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Morrow earning her 14th double-double of the season.
Arkansas went on an 11-1 run in the fourth quarter to attempt a comeback, but LSU’s lead proved to be too much for the Razorbacks.
The Tigers continued to produce on the offensive end to maintain a strong lead in the fourth quarter. LSU was able to steady the ship in the final quarter to play to reach the final score of 98-64.
LSU Adds Commitments From Seven Top-100 Transfers in the Portal
LSU Dishes Out Offer to No. 1 Quarterback in America
Advertisement
Nick Saban Calls LSU Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier a “Sleeper” Ahead of 2024 Season
Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU program.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas’ Izzy Higginbottom tried to drag the Razorbacks to victory over No. 6 LSU, but the Tigers’ balance was too much too handle. LSU cruised to a 98-64 win to open SEC play. The Hogs fell to 7-9 while LSU improved to 16-0 on the season.
The game happened less than 48 hours after the deadly attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A moment of silence was paid before the game for the victims.
“You just wish you could do something,” coach Kim Mulkey said postgame. “I thought it was very classy of Arkansas to do that. There were kids from our area, Baton Rouge. I can’t quit thinking about it. It’s so close to home. It just hits you right smack in the face. You get emotional because I cannot imagine those families right now.”
The Razorbacks were limited to a one-person wrecking crew. Guard Izzy Higginbottom, who came into the night No.4 nationally in points per game at 23.8, scored 27 of the Hogs 64 points, including 16 in the first half.
Other players donning the Razorbacks uniform were held to just 31 points and 14-for-46 (30.3%) from the floor. Carly Keats was the team’s second leading scorer at just 18 points, 15 in the fourth quarter of the game where the Hogs were already down by over 40.
LSU used its plethora of talent to blitz Arkansas. The Tigers jumped out to a 16-2 lead. Four different players reached double figures.
Former Razorback Jersey Wolfenbarger just missed out with eight points. The Fort Smith native who played under Neighbors from 2021-2023, averaging just 3.9 in her final season at Arkansas.
Flau’jae Johnson, one of three LSU players on the preseason Naismith Watch List for player of the year, picked up a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Aneesah Morrow had a double-double of her own with 11 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers outrebounded the Hogs 48-32.
Arkansas will now face another top SEC team in No. 5 Texas on the road. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. The game will be streamed on SEC+.
Advertisement
• Strong league doesn’t scare Calipari, chances to pad March resume
• Arkansas coaching staff preparing for rigors of SEC play
• Top 5 games between Hogs, Vols since Arkansas joined SEC
• REPORT: Arkansas assistant leaves, takes defensive coordinator role
• Calipari’s Razorbacks get little respect in most rankings
• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube • Follow HogsSI on X and Facebook
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24982514/Quest_3_dock.jpg "Meta’s ‘software update issue’ has been breaking Quest headsets for weeks")
