Virginia State University is reporting that nearly 1,000 freshmen

enrolled for the fall semester, a rebound from 2015 when

fall freshman enrollment fell to a 14-year low of 815 students.

This is the first freshman class to enroll under VSU President

Makola M. Abdullah, who took over earlier this year.

Dr. Abdullah credited the work of the VSU Office of Enrollment

Services with bringing in more students, including 40

international students, reportedly the largest group of international

students in the school’s history.

However, the freshman class is still the third smallest since

at least 2001. VSU has averaged about 1,200 freshmen a year

since then, with the peak in 2008 when VSU reported enrolling

1,553 freshmen.

VSU, whose total enrollment has fallen in the each of the past

two years, did not release information on its total enrollment for

fall 2016.