Howard Payne University has enrolled 1,290 students for the fall 2010 semester, a 9.5% increase over the enrollment total last year.

The university welcomed the largest new-student enrollment to campus since 1996 with 391 beginning first-year and transfer students. When including part-time, non-degree seeking and dual-enrollment students as well as those who are seeking a certificate of ministry, the number increases to 540.

“We are very pleased with the increase in enrollment numbers this fall,” said Dr. Bill Ellis, university president. “Everyone on campus has played an important role in helping bring in the largest new class in 14 years. We are especially pleased with this entering freshman class because they are, as a group, academically well-prepared for the rigor of a private university education.

“We consider this large entering class as proof that HPU is beginning a new and exciting era,” Dr. Ellis continued. “We are seeing the results of our commitment to academic excellence and highest quality student services.  Our student body is clear evidence of a bright future for Howard Payne University.”

The overall enrollment number includes 1,143 undergraduate students in Brownwood, 19 graduate students and 128 students in HPU’s extension centers located in Corpus Christi and El Paso. HPU draws students from across the state of Texas and 13 other states.

Additionally, the number of new students from Brown County attending HPU has increased by 43% this year. Currently there are 70 new first-year and transfer students from Brown County, compared with 40 students last fall. University officials have stated that one of the contributing factors to the increase in local students attending HPU is the Heart of Texas Scholarship program which began in 2009. Sixty-five students from Brown County and the seven surrounding counties have been awarded the scholarship in the amount of $12,000 per year.

Enrollment totals became official at the university on September 2, after the eighth day of class.