After three years of single digit fluctuations, UNA’s fall semester enrollment has dropped by nearly 100 students, according to the Registrar’s Office.

Both undergraduate and graduate enrollment dropped from the 2010 fall semester to the current semester, but despite the drop, UNA President William Cale believes the university is still doing well.

“UNA managed well,” he said. “We didn’t have to lay off anyone. Though, one of reasons we managed so well was because of a raise in tuition.”

Over the summer term, the board of trustees voted to increase overall student tuition by 10.3 percent, or $19 per credit hour, to help in part pay for faculty and staff.

UNA overall enrollment, which was at 7,279 students in fall 2010, dropped to 7,182 students this semester, with undergraduate enrollment dropping from 6,231 students to 6,185 students and graduate enrollmen dropping from 1,048 students to 997 students, according to the Registrar’s Office.

The number of new freshmen attending UNA also dropped from 980 students last fall semester to 891 students.

There are several ways to explain why student enrollment dropped, Cale said, but his main focus was on the economy and the effect it has on students seeking a degree.

“Just by looking at the aggregate numbers, economy plays the major part in it,” Cale said.

Despite the state of the economy, other colleges in the state have been able to not only increase their enrollment numbers, but readily thrive in today’s environment.

According to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s website, the university has 11,128 undergraduates enrolled, 100 more than the year before, and a record-breaking total of 17,575 undergraduate and graduate students.

Meanwhile, the University of Alabama has also improved its enrollment numbers from last fall, according to their website, with 26,234 undergraduates enrolled this fall semester compared to 24,883 students enrolled last fall.

A stricter focusing process on the reliability of international students enrolled at UNA is another reason UNA’s student enrollment has dropped, according to Cale.

“Many of them would use UNA as an entry point to the USA,” Cale said. “We needed to recruit students who wanted to stay and create a degree-and we did that.”

According to Cale, international student enrollment was close to 1,000 at one point, but has now dropped down to around 450 students.

“I think, with the way the economy is, I’m happy we have 7,182 students here this fall,” said Tina Sharp, current Registrar for UNA and one of the people responsible for collection of student enrollment data.

The Registrar is responsible for day-to-day collection of data like student enrollment, and according to Sharp, is setting up a way to bring more meaningful numbers to students in the upcoming semester.