The number of new students - including Ohio and Kentucky residents, traditional-age college students, students from other states, and international students-boosted SSU to its highest enrollment mark ever, in addition to making SSU the institution with the second-highest percentage enrollment increase among the 13 state universities in Ohio this academic year, behind only Central State University near Dayton.

Preliminary enrollment figures for all public colleges and universities in Ohio, released yesterday by the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), list

SSU's fall enrollment as 3,798, up 2.8 percent over last fall.

"Everyone at SSU is excited that the university has experienced its highest enrollment ever," said Rita Rice Morris, president of SSU. "These numbers reflect some important changes at SSU."

The number of full-time students increased by 3 percent, while subsidy-eligible students, the category for which the university receives state subsidy, increased by 3.4 percent.

The enrollment increases at SSU are not surprising to many members of the southern Ohio community because SSU's enrollment has increased at a steady pace every year since fall 2000, Morris said.

In that same time period, the number of part-time students decreased while the number of full-time students increased.

Other interesting aspects of SSU's 2004-2005 student body include:

&t;There are 60.6 percent females/39.4 percent males on campus;

&t;The average ACT score has increased to 19.57;

&t;Among this year's new students, there are 15 valedictorians, 93 students in the top 10 percent of their class, and 173 students who were in the top quintile of their class;

&t;There is a 16 percent increase in the number of students housed in campus housing.

&t;Eight Intramural programs are in place this fall and 12 new student clubs and organizations have been created.

While the majority of SSU students come from Scioto, Lawrence, Adams,

Pike, Ross, Brown, Jackson, and Franklin counties in Ohio, in

addition to Greenup County in Kentucky, SSU draws its overall student

population from 75 of Ohio's 88 counties, 15 states, and 12

countries.