NEWS

The 2020-21 academic year called for innovative approaches to almost everything, including college recruiting.

For Louisiana Tech University, those inventive recruitment techniques – including virtual tours and online events – yielded a larger class of first-time freshmen than in 2020. These students are also among the most college-ready group of freshmen, with an average 24.7 ACT score.

Louisiana Tech’s total enrollment for the 2021-22 academic year is 11,173, down only 24 students from the 2020-21 academic year. Undergraduate enrollment is up 103 students from the same time last year, and retention of current students stands at a state-leading 80 percent.

“Our Admissions staff has done an outstanding job in the past year to maintain connections to prospective students and help them with any challenges they might encounter with a completely different college-search process,” said Dr. Les Guice, Louisiana Tech President. “We have also found that our students are searching for a university that will allow them to create ‘normal’ experiences and connections in the wake of a year that was anything but normal.”

Early in the Fall 2021 recruitment cycle, Tech’s Admissions Office began using live broadcasts on Instagram to answer questions from prospective students and providing campus information videos for high school counselors to share with their students. Video tours for each of the University’s colleges were compiled, and student recruiters, who usually conduct in-person tours, began writing personal letters to each prospective student. Recruitment professionals even sent personalized videos to prospective students to show them the power of joining the Tech Family.

“This year taught all of us about the importance of relationships, and I believe the strength with which our Admissions team has always nurtured those relationships with students and partnerships with schools was shown in this past year,” Guice said.

Dual enrollment was up nearly 200 students from the same time last year, as an increasing number of students continued working to earn college credit while still in high school. Louisiana Tech has the fastest time to degree, 4.1 years, of all public universities in the State of Louisiana.

Tech’s top five majors for 2021-22 are Mechanical Engineering, Biology, Computer Science, Kinesiology and Health Science, and Nursing.