News

Lee University has released the institution’s enrollment profile for the 2014-15 school year with over five thousand students officially registered. The following are some of the highlights:

*  Official fall enrollment is 5104, an all-time record and the first time Lee has registered over five thousand students. Phil Cook, VP    for enrollment, announced the numbers, but added that “actually, there are not more students in Cleveland for our traditional residential campus. The official number includes, for the first time, over 100 students who are taking classes in three international sites, in Germany, Ecuador, and Guatemala.”

*  Approximately 79 percent of last year’s freshmen have returned this year as sophomores to continue their degree programs. (This is up by three percent over last year.)

*  Over 700 students are taking online and onsite classes as part of the Division of Adult Learning this year. DAL classes are tailored for nontraditional students seeking to expand their education.

*  The enrollment number includes 351 graduate students studying in areas of business, counseling, education, music, and religion.

*  More than 200 international students, coming from dozens of countries and cultures, are enrolled at Lee this year. Nigeria is the nation of origin for the largest number of internationals.

*  “The shape of the student population is shifting,” Cook said, with fewer full-time students taking traditional on-campus classes, and more part-time and special populations in programs such as dual enrollment and Encore for senior learners.

“This official number looks like an enrollment record,” said Lee President Paul Conn, “and technically, that’s true, but the group of students coming to Cleveland to study on our campus isn’t really any larger.”

Over the past ten years, Lee has been performing an internal self-study to satisfy requirements by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). This consists of departmental analyses and a university-wide examination of progress. SACS is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.

SACS has also modified the methodology for how students are counted. Lee University has been partnered with seminaries in Germany, Ecuador, and Guatemala to provide graduates from those schools with a joint diploma, and SACS will now be including these institutions in Lee’s enrollment numbers and accreditation analysis.