Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

top of the class

The Arizona Republic reports today that Arizona State University (my alma mater) tops the nation in enrollment on its main campus in Tempe.

Arizona State University is the new No. 1 in main-campus enrollment among U.S. universities, just edging the University of Minnesota, according to an Associated Press survey of figures reported by the schools themselves.

ASU has 51,612 students on its Tempe campus, which is 437 more than Minnesota’s enrollment at its Twin Cities campus. Last year’s No. 1, Ohio State, is now third. “We’ve been building for it,” ASU spokeswoman Sarah Auffret said of the school’s top ranking. Efforts to attract high-caliber students, a relatively cheap education, still considered a bargain by many even for out-of-state students despite recent tuition increases, and the state’s exploding population have led to ASU’s growth…

ASU’s current freshman class of 8,400 is its largest ever, she said. The university’s growth is seen by some as a referendum on the administration of President Michael Crow, who envisions an ASU with four Valley campuses and 90,000 students by 2015.

(“ASU tops nation for enrollment” - 11/15/05)

I think the main campus had about 35,000 students when I attended school there, and I thought that was a lot of people then. I should ask my little sister about her experiences there so far.