Graduate student enrollment at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has increased by 1.6 percent over fall 2020 with graduate student enrollment reaching 1,445 students. 

UA Little Rock also saw a significant increase in enrollment by international graduate students with a 62 percent increase over last year.

“Graduate education is critical to the development of a workforce that will catalyze economic growth in our region, and so we are excited to see the positive growth in graduate enrollment this year,” said Dr. Brian Berry, vice provost of research and dean of the Graduate School. “Last year, COVID significantly impacted our graduate enrollment especially in terms of international student enrollment. Thankfully many of those students were able this year to travel and begin their education here at UA Little Rock.”

As of data released on Sept. 9, UA Little Rock has also seen a 2.6 percent increase in enrollment at the William H. Bowen School of Law as well as a 23 percent increase in high school and concurrent enrollment students from last year.

“Our greatest priority is the success of our students,” said Dr. Christina Drale, chancellor of UA Little Rock. “Our university has a large, non-traditional student population that has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have focused our efforts on providing more scholarships to students in need as well as the essential wraparound services to ensure success and a solid career path after graduation. Thanks to the efforts of many hard-working teams across campus, UA Little Rock is serving our students better than ever. We look forward to bringing more students to campus this year to show them what they can expect from an education at UA Little Rock.”

The university has implemented several initiatives to help ease the financial burden that has impacted students and their families during the pandemic. UA Little Rock has kept tuition and fees flat for the past two academic years and offered half-off tuition scholarships for all new freshmen.

In addition, UA Little Rock has started a need-based scholarship program, the Trojan Strong Scholarship. This program has provided much-needed scholarships to 357 recipients who might not have been able to afford a college education otherwise.

“UA Little Rock prioritizes access to higher education for students and their families,” said Dr. Cody Decker, vice chancellor for student affairs and chief data officer. “Combined with the recent 11 percent decrease in net price—the average amount actually paid by new students—along with several new student aid initiatives, UA Little Rock continues to keep a quality degree and transformative student experience in reach for students.”

Compared to fall 2020, undergraduate transfer students are down by 10 students, while first-time undergraduate enrollment at UA Little Rock is down by 35 students. However, UA Little Rock has seen a two-year increase in GPA and ACT scores of new undergraduate students. First-time undergraduate students increased their average GPA scores from 3.39 in 2020 to 3.42 in 2021. The average ACT score also increased from 21.8 in 2020 to 22.1 this year. 

UA Little Rock’s overall enrollment is 7,466 for the fall semester.