New Student Enrollment Up for 3rd Straight Year, New Graduate Student Enrollment Jumps 27%

RALEIGH, N.C. — For the third straight year, the NC State College of Education will open a new academic year with an increase in new student enrollment. The college will welcome an expected 601 new undergraduate and graduate students when the 2019-20 academic year begins Wednesday, Aug. 21. That is an increase of 20% in new student enrollment over last year.

“Our new student enrollment is up across the board at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This is encouraging news, not just for our college but — as the state’s largest producer of STEM educators and many of the state’s best teachers — for North Carolina,” said NC State College of Education Dean Mary Ann Danowitz. “Our faculty and staff recruited a very strong group of new students who share our commitment to deliver high quality educational experiences that improve student outcomes for all North Carolinians and that meet the workforce needs of our state.”

The college’s incoming students include an expected 373 new master’s degree students. That is an increase of 86 new master’s students over last year, or an increase of 30%. The number of both new master’s and doctoral students increased 27% from last year.

“Many of our new graduate students are K-12 classroom teachers pursuing advanced degrees. These are teachers determined to deepen their own learning and their own skills to improve the outcomes of their students,” Danowitz said. “We know that teachers are the most influential school-based factor on student success, and our new students who are also current teachers understand this and embrace our belief that education offers the most powerful way to transform lives, schools and communities.”

In addition to the 456 new graduate students, the incoming class includes an expected 109 first-year and 36 transfer undergraduate students.

Twenty-five of these new undergraduate students are also N.C. Teaching Fellows and part of the second cohort of Teaching Fellows who have enrolled at NC State since legislators re-established the program last year. In all, 54 first-year, transfer, Master of Arts in Teaching and licensure-only students make up the second cohort of Teaching Fellows at NC State — the state’s largest cohort.

The expected 109 first-year students come from 10 states and 42 counties in North Carolina — 27 of which are rural — and they had a weighted GPA of 4.20 and an average SAT score of 1263.

The Class of 2023 also includes two Park Scholars (Catherine Dean of Cumberland County, elementary education and mathematics, and Shannon Carney of Mecklenburg County, secondary mathematics education); as well as four Goodnight Scholars (Sarah Phillips of Harnett County, secondary mathematics education; Kathryn King of Henderson County, secondary mathematics education; Rhiannon See of Pender County, secondary science education; and Erica Council of Wake County, secondary mathematics education).

“We are excited to welcome all our new students to the NC State College of Education,” Danowitz said. “We will provide them with a research-based, personalized and comprehensive collegiate experience that prepares them to be extraordinary educators who serve communities in the greatest need.”

The college’s expected new 145 undergraduates, 373 master’s students and 83 doctoral students will study across 50-plus degree programs in three departments: Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education; and Teacher Education and Learning Sciences.