News Releases 2009
LETU Announces 2009 Fall Enrollment
Wed, Sep 9 2009
LeTourneau University’s enrollment of new students studying in the traditional programs at the Longview campus is one of the largest classes in recent history with 432 incoming students. The two majors attracting the largest number of new students are engineering with 148 and aeronautical science with 99, with aero science majors topping last year’s previous record of 95 incoming students. The average composite ACT score of the incoming freshmen class is 25.4, and the average SAT score is 1180, well above both state and national averages.First-time college students from Texas continue to increase with nearly 60 percent being from within the state. National trends indicate that many students this year are choosing colleges closer to home. Rounding out the top 10 states that sent the most students to LETU are California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oregon, Virginia, Alaska, Kansas and Florida.
More than 60 percent of the incoming students arrived with college credits already, many of which were from dual credit courses while still in high school, an increasing national trend. Home schooled students represent 17 percent of the new LETU fall class members.
LETU welcomes 57 international students this fall from countries that include Australia, Canada, China, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Viet Nam and Zambia. Five of these new students are from China and are seeking their degrees from LETU.
LETU has a record number of returning students in its traditional programs, totaling 894 compared to last year’s record of 891. Six new incoming National Merit Finalists join the 20 already here, totaling 26 on campus this fall. The addition of the university’s new programs in Air Traffic Control has attracted 20 students, and LETU’s new civil engineering concentration attracted 16 students. LETU is the only university in the state of Texas to offer Air Traffic Control, an FAA-approved program.
Enrollment in the traditional programs in Longview totals 1,379 students for fall 2009, which includes special, audit and dual-enrollment. The university’s total fall 2009 enrollment, including all students in all the working adult programs online and across the state, is 3,386. LETU reports enrollments following the 12th day of class.
“Our record number of incoming aeronautical science students coincides with the opening of our new Paul and Betty Abbott Aviation Center at East Texas Regional Airport,” said President Dr. Dale A. Lunsford. “Students who study here bring the world to Longview. In turn, they take LETU and Longview with them as they serve in workplaces around the world.”
LETU’s Longview campus this year also serves a record number of online students in its graduate and professional programs, totaling 885, up by almost 50 percent from last year’s record of 592. Besides Longview, the university offers working adult programs in Dallas, Bedford, Houston, Austin and Tyler.
“The strength of our traditional enrollment on the Longview campus during these turbulent economic times is evidence of LeTourneau University's increasingly strong reputation, not only in Texas, but all across the country” said Linda Fitzhugh, vice president for Enrollment Services.
LeTourneau University was recently ranked in the top tier of U.S. News and World Report magazine’s 2010 list of “America’s Best Colleges.” LeTourneau University is an interdenominational Christian university offering academic majors in the aeronautical sciences, business, education, engineering, the humanities and sciences.
