The University of Kentucky is reporting record enrollment, graduation and retention rates for the fall 2024 semester, President Eli Capilouto said Friday.

According to preliminary data presented at the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, the total number of students enrolled at the university exceeded 36,000 for the first time, almost 7% more than last academic year.

UK is the Commonwealth’s largest university, with 33,885 students enrolled last year. The University of Louisville, the second-largest university in Kentucky, had 23,225 students enrolled, according to the university.

The number of new students at UK has also increased. There are currently more than 6,500 first-year students enrolled. In addition, UK is recording historic highs in graduation and retention rates.

“We know that the performance of our students here – and their success at UK – will largely determine whether we can successfully move Kentucky forward,” Capilouto said.

The graduation rate is over 71%, which takes into account the number of students who enroll in the UK and graduate within six years. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the six-year graduation rate nationwide is 62.2%.

Capilouto said UK is among the top 100 public universities with a graduation rate of over 71%.

The retention rate, i.e. the number of students returning to the UK for their second year, has also reached a record high of 87.3%.

“We have increased student success rates even as we have increased enrollment, while maintaining our commitment to open doors to students from all walks of life – regardless of income, race, ethnicity and other backgrounds,” Capilouto said. “That is not the norm. But that is who we are.”

Significantly increasing graduation and retention rates is no easy task, and it can take years for universities to see tangible changes. Since 2016, UK has held a meeting every Friday to review campus retention data.

Todd Brann, executive director of institutional research, analytics and decision support, said these meetings helped with data retention and provided concrete opportunities for the university to address data retention and focus on student success.

For example, these meetings gave rise to the UK LEADS program, which uses a data model to provide scholarships for students and thus reduce participation fees, Brann said.

“When we first came together in 2016, there were about a dozen people,” Brann said. “Now we have 60 to 80 people from across campus participating. I think this is one way we’re trying to work collaboratively and in a data-driven way, always with a specific goal for student success in mind.”

UK also looked at the enrollment of first-year students from Appalachia, as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission. That number has increased since last fall, with 560 Appalachian students enrolled this year.

The data presented on Friday are considered preliminary; final enrollment numbers will be announced on October 15.

Other data points presented on Friday include:

• The total number of enrollments is estimated at 36,161, and the number of first-year students is 6,571.

• With 1,162 students, the number of transfer students enrolled at the UK university is the highest in over a decade, an increase of 16% from the previous year.

• A record number of first-year students enrolled come from under-represented backgrounds and more than 26% of first-year students in the UK are first-generation students.

• The number of black freshmen has decreased by about 60. However, the total number of black, Hispanic, and students who identify as two or more races has increased.

• Last school year, UK awarded 9,545 degrees and certificates, another record for the university.