Enrollment record for 2024 driven by 25 percent growth in first-time freshmen
More students are turning to Tennessee Tech’s College of Engineering for future engineering and computer science careers as the college launches new programs, increases workforce development programs and opens the doors on new facilities.
The college set an all-time enrollment record for Fall 2024, with 3,121 total students, according to fall 2024 census numbers, representing an increase of nearly 10 percent over the previous fall. Enrollment of first-time freshmen grew 25.6 percent this year, to 760 students.
The College of Engineering remained Tech’s top college by enrollment, with mechanical engineering and computer science leading the top five undergraduate programs at Tech.
The college’s population of returning students was boosted by a year-to-year retention rate exceeding university goals, with 83 percent of freshmen returning for a second year and 71percent continuing in engineering and computer science programs.
Tennessee Tech overall also reached its highest enrollment in a decade with a total headcount at 10,511 students and the fourth-largest freshman class in its 109-year history at 2,006 freshmen.
The college launched a new Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering in May and saw enrollment in the program in fall more than double expectations. New concentrations in aerospace engineering, construction management, hardware and system security and data science and AI, among others, have helped buoy enrollment as well.
The enrollment record is one of several records the college collected this year. The college saw research skyrocket to $42.7 million in externally funded awards for fiscal year 2024—a 650 percent increase over the last five years—as well as expenditures nearly doubling from the previous year to $11.8 million.
In October, the college opened its 100,000-sq.ft. Ashraf Islam Engineering Building, an interdisciplinary student-focused building housing several student project labs. The grand opening celebration was attended by more than 1,000 elected officials, members of industry, alumni, donors, students and the university community.
“The college is stronger than ever,” said Joseph C. Slater, dean of the college of engineering, at the event. “We are hungry, driven, and eager to serve. There is a lot more to be done and we aren’t slowing down. This is the dawn of a new era for the College of Engineering.”
Tennessee Tech is the state’s only polytechnical university. The College of Engineering is home to nine bachelor’s degrees programs with 17 concentrations, six master’s degree programs a college-wide Ph.D. program, and is ranked among the top two public universities in Tennessee with engineering colleges offering doctoral programs by U.S. News and World Report for 2025.
