The percentage of freshmen students who entered the University of Louisiana at Monroe this fall and continued at ULM this spring is 88 percent - a higher persistence rate than last year.

First-time freshmen participating in ULM's Learning Community initiative persisted at an even greater rate, said Lisa Miller, Associate Provost for Enrollment Management at ULM. Of the 317 students who enrolled in the Learning Community last fall, 93.7 percent returned for this spring semester.

"We continue to be pleased with the quality of students we are attracting to ULM.  The recent increase in ACT scores and the influx of TOPS Scholars combined with first-year initiatives and outstanding classroom instruction contributed to our improved persistence rate."

With the tighter admissions standards implemented by the Louisiana Board of Regents in 2005, ULM administrators planned for and anticipated a fluctuation in enrollment, Miller said.

ULM has an enrollment of 7,684 students for the spring 2007 semester.  Last spring, the student population was 8,286.

"It's going to take some time for enrollment numbers to stabilize as we adhere to the Selective Admissions Standards under the BOR's Master Plan," Miller said.