• 2724 individualsDiverse, yet unified 1n purpose At a time when many colleges and universities of the nation, both private and state-supported institutions, have been experiencing a drop in enrollment or struggling to maintain the previous level of enrollment, Harding College has experienced a significant increase in enrollment year after year. The following table presents the official enrollment on the fourth Monday of each semester from the fall of 1969 through the spring of 1977. Academic Year 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 Fall Semester 1,888 1,916 2,060 2,095 2,319 2,467 2,601 2,724 Spring Semester 1,780 1,836 1,908 2,005 2,208 2,337 2,437 2,560 For the 1976 fall semester, there were 2,619 full-time students and 105 part-time students. The number of women slightly outnumbered the men - 1,395 women and 1,329 men. There were 1,171 women and 1,015 men who lived in residence halls and ate at one of the two cafeterias operated by the college. There were 261 married students enrolled for the fall semester - 165 men and 96 women. Married students were distributed as follows among the classes: 137 seniors 69 juniors, 36 sophomores and 19 f;eshmen. Since 80.2 per cent of the students lived in the residence halls and most were on campus about every weekend, the administration of the college and the Executive Council of the Student Association had a heavy responsibility to make available meaningful activities in which students could participate during their leisure time. On weekends when there was not a major athletic event or a college lyceum, the Student Association showed a movie. Enrolled for the fall semester were students from 47 states and 19 foreign countries. Delaware, Maine and Rhode Island were the three states not represented. As would be expected, the largest number of students was from Arkansas, but there were 10 other states represented by more than 80 students each. The following table gives the number of students from each of these 11 states. Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742 Texas .............................. 277 Tennesse ........................... 202 Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Louisiana ........................... 113 Illinois ........... .. .................. 93 California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Ohio ................................ 90 Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 l\labama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 rgia ............................. 87 Foreign students from 19 different countries totaled 47. By classification for the fall semester, there were 845 freshmen, 582 sophomores, 616 juniors, 606 seniors, 39 graduate students and 36 students who had already completed a degree but were doing additional undergraduate study. There were 170 transfer students of whom 98 were juniors, mostly from sister junior colleges, such as York College in Nebraska, Ohio Valley College in West Virginia, Michigan Christian College, Alabama Christian College and Crowley's Ridge College in Arkansas. For many years Harding College had only one graduation exercise which was held at the close of the spring semester. Several years ago the college began to have a graduation exercise at the close of the summer session in August. For the first time, a graduation exercise was held at the close of the 1976 fall semester on December 17. There were 103 candidates for degrees. The administration and faculty responded to a student request for the December graduation exercise since a number of the candidates lived several hundred miles from Searcy and would find it very difficult to return for the May graduation. The attendance was good and the administration has decided to make the December graduation an annual affair. The American College Test is required of all applicants who will have fewer than 14 semester hours of college credit when entering Harding. The typical freshman student entering Harding in 1976 had an ACT composite score of 20.1 and a high school gradepoint average of 3.1 compared to national averages of 18.7 and 2.9, respectively. When these students took the ACT during their senior year in high school, 71 per cent listed Harding as their first choice. The two most significant factors listed for choosing Harding were the type of institution and the field of study available. A total of 53 per cent aspired to a Bachelor's degree only while an additional 37 per cent aspired to a graduate or professional degree beyond the baccalaureate. Each year since 1968, Harding College has cooperated with the American Cou'ncil on Education on its study of the American freshman. On the section of this test that seeks to determine the opinions of entering freshmen on certain issues, the following table presents those issues on which 60 or more per cent of Harding freshmen agree to somewhat strongly: · Use some degree standard for all . . . . . . . . 77 Government should help private colleges . 76 Government is not controlling pollution . . 74 Too many rights for criminals ........... 74 Wealthy should pay more taxes . . . . . . . . . 73 Students should help evaluate faculty . . . . 71 Students appreciate college more if pay more ............................. . .. 68 Government is not protecting consumer . . 66 Regulate student publications .......... 64 Grading in high school too easy . . . . . . . . . 63 The following table lists the percentage of the freshmen who listed each item as a very important factor in helping them decide to go to college: Learn more about things 75.2 Meet new and interesting people 71 .9 Gain general education 66.0 Able to get a better job 61.5 Parents wanted me to go 39.8 Improve study skills 39.5 Able to make more money 35.2 Become a more cultured person 34.7 Prepare for graduate school 33.5 Although classes have found increasing difficulty in having class meetings and developing close in- ________________________________ _, 110 - CLASSES
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