More students than ever will attend the University of Tennessee at Knoxville this fall
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville will have a record-breaking number of students this fall, Chancellor Donde Plowman said June 13.
Total enrollment for undergraduate and graduate will be more than 35,000 students. That's more than the 2022-23 school year, which at 33,805 students was the highest enrollment in UT history.
"Tennessee is winning, and not just in football," Plowman said at the June 13 Rotary Club of Knoxville meeting, where she gave updates on everything from new residence halls to UT's athletics success, including Tennessee baseball's trip to the College World Series.
UT previously announced it would lower the admission rate for first-year students, and the fall freshman class will reflect that change a slightly smaller size, Plowman said.
The fall 2022 semester welcomed 6,846 new freshmen to UT, along with 1,616 transfer students.
Despite the dip in first-year class size, Plowman said 89% of upperclassmen are returning next semester.
UT received a record-breaking 50,000 first-year applications during the 2022-23 school year, she said. A revived Tennessee football program played a role in that surge.
"It is true that the day we beat Alabama - 24 hours later - 2,000 applications dropped," Plowman said.
UT is racing to meet the needs of its growing student body with three new residence halls, three new colleges and more projects detailed in UT's Master Plan.
The university is keeping tuition steady for the fourth year in a row, but a couple of fees will increase for fall 2023.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of applications. Plowman said it was 50,000.
Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. Twitter @specialk2real.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: University of Tennessee Knoxville enrollment record fall 2023
