This fall semester marks another major milestone for growth on the University of Utah campus.

For the sixth consecutive year, the U enrolled a record number of new students with an incoming class in excess of 6,500 first-year students, along with more than 1,400 newly transferred students starting classes this week. Overall, the U’s total enrollment rose to record levels, eclipsing 38,000 students for the first time in school history. Official enrollment data is scheduled for release in October, along with census totals from every institution in the Utah Higher Education System. (See this @theU article for the final enrollment numbers and USHE completion rates).

“Students and families increasingly recognize the return on investment of a University of Utah education,” said Paul Kohn, senior vice president for strategic enrollment and student success. Data collected annually finds that U graduates’ median earnings are 25% higher than the national average at $67,170 and 82% of degrees awarded are in programs related to high-demand jobs, as defined by the Utah System of Higher Education.

“Even with challenges such as financial aid delays, the continued growth of our incoming class demonstrates the value, impact and outcomes that a Utah degree provides,” Kohn continued.

Incoming U students will have 100+ undergraduate majors and 200+ graduate programs to choose from as they benefit from an average undergraduate class size of 37 and learn in Utah’s lowest public institution student-to-faculty ratio at 19:1. In addition to paying the lowest tuition among  Association of American Universities (AAU) public universities in the West.

The AAU is an organization of leading research universities that are evaluated on their research, graduate and undergraduate education. Member institutions include the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California system (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz), the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Oregon, the University of Utah, and the University of Washington.