NC State Education’s New Undergraduate Student Enrollment Jumps 29%

RALEIGH, N.C.–The NC State College of Education will begin the 2018-19 academic year Wednesday, Aug. 22, with an expected 500 new undergraduate and graduate students — the college’s largest group of incoming students in over eight years.

The new students include an expected 141 first-year and transfer undergraduate students, which is a 29 percent increase in the number of new undergraduates from the same time last fall.

“For the second year in a row, we are opening an academic year with an increase in new student enrollment. This is wonderful news not just for the NC State College of Education but for the entire state of North Carolina,” said NC State College of Education Dean Mary Ann Danowitz. “More and more people are understanding and embracing the power that educational professionals have in improving the lives of children and families and the critical role they play in ensuring the well-being of our state. Our faculty and staff also have worked hard to attract talented students who share our mission to improve the educational outcomes of all North Carolinians.”

The incoming first-year students have a weighted GPA of 4.5 and an average score of 1245 on the SAT, making them one of the college’s academically strongest classes ever. They come from two countries, 10 states and 32 counties across North Carolina.

Sixteen of these first-year students are also part of the first incoming cohort of N.C. Teaching Fellows at NC State since 2011. The NC State College of Education is one of five institutions hosting the re-established N.C. Teaching Fellows program, which provides up to $8,250 per year in forgivable loans to individuals who commit to teach in a STEM field or special education in North Carolina public schools. In all, 25 first-year, transfer, Master of Arts in Teaching and licensure-only students make up the new cohort of Teaching Fellows at NC State.

“We look forward to providing an outstanding, research-based, personal and comprehensive collegiate experience to these talented and aspiring students to prepare them to be outstanding teachers serving children and teens with the greatest needs, especially in rural communities,” Danowitz said.

Across the college, the incoming group of expected 141 first-year and transfer, 287 master’s and 72 doctoral students represents an increase of 3 percent in total new student enrollment over last fall. They will study across 60-plus academic programs across three departments: Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education; and Teacher Education and Learning Sciences.

About the NC State College of Education: The NC State College of Education leads the way in preparing professionals, conducting research and engaging communities to improve educational outcomes for all learners across North Carolina and beyond. As a research-driven college of education grounded in its land-grant mission that enrolls over 1,700 undergraduate and graduate students, the college is North Carolina’s largest producer of STEM educators and master’s-level literacy specialists, graduates teachers who rate among the best on statewide performance measures, and has created a pipeline of leaders for schools, community colleges and higher education institutions. In addition, with two-thirds of its faculty engaged in active research, the college ranks No. 1 in education research productivity in North Carolina and in active grants. U.S. News & World Report also ranks the college in the Top 12 percent nationally among 385 graduate colleges of education and No. 1 in North Carolina for its online graduate programs.