No. 1 on the List: LSU

LSU had just 497 fewer students enrolled last fall than it did for the comparable semester in 2015.

Final enrollment numbers for the semester show that 31,414 students were enrolled at LSU in the fall, despite issues with TOPS and widespread flooding in Ascension, Livingston or East Baton Rouge parishes. New freshmen numbered 5,475.

LSU is expected to release final enrollment for the spring semester at the end of this month. Preliminary enrollment numbers do not show any significant decreases in enrollment, despite state cuts to TOPS. Emails and calls to a university spokesperson were not return before this afternoon’s publication.

In the fall of 2015, LSU led the state’s public colleges and universities in total enrollment, with 31,911 students registering and paying for classes. Enrollment that semester increased 4.5% over the total enrollment in the fall of 2014, when the Baton Rouge campus had 30,911 students, according to figures published in the current issue of Business Report.

Graduate students accounted for 5,691 of the students enrolled for that semester.

The fall 2015 enrollment figures landed LSU—state’s flagship university—in the No. 1 spot on Business Report’s new ranking of Louisiana public colleges and universities.

The University of Louisiana-Lafayette ranks No. 2, with 17,837 students in fall 2015; Delgado Community College ranks No. 3, with 16,520. While LSU and ULL saw their enrollments rise between the fall of 2014 and 2015, Delgado’s declined some 3.7%.

See the current issue of Business Report for a full ranking of the state’s public colleges and universities by enrollment, and look for a ranking of health clubs and gyms in the new Business Report issue that hits stands next week.