Record Limestone College enrollment now official

Limestone College plans to build a new residential hall after setting enrollment records this fall semester.

The college has 809 students attending classes this fall, according to official enrollment figures released Wednesday. This figure includes more than 300 new students.

"These numbers are alltime records for our day program," Limestone College President Dr. Walt Griffin said. "We are pleasantly surprised. We were very cautious coming into the year."

Due to the enrollment increase, Griffin said the college is in the planning stages to build a residential hall. The new building will provide housing for 50 students on campus.

"We would like to open the residential hall next fall so we would like to start work on the project in the next few weeks," Griffin said. "We think it's an advantage for new students to live on campus."

The record number of students comes one year after economic factors led to the first drop in the college's enrollment in 15 years. Enrollment dropped from 770 fulltime day students in 2007 to 745 students last fall.

Founded in 1845, Limestone College has focused on serving nontraditional students through programs like evening classes for working adults. The college had 33 students from outof state enroll this fall to play for new men's volleyball and women's field hockey teams.

After last year's enrollment decline, Griffin appointed longtime Limestone administrator Dr. Charles Cunning to oversee student retention.

"We have really focused on doing more early intervention and individual follow up with students so we can improve our retention rate," Griffin said. "Many students often make decisions on whether to leave school in the first few weeks of classes. We are seeing the benefits from our recent focus on student retention."