By Neil Offen

noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646

DURHAM -- The freshman class at N.C. Central University is already record-setting: It's the largest class of first-year students in the school's 100 years.

But it's not as big as it might have been.

The university announced Friday that its official enrollment for the academic year is 1,347 first-time students. That's 312 more than last year, an increase of more than 30 percent.

There are also 30 percent more transfer and second-degree students registered at NCCU for the fall semester.

The influx helped ensure that NCCU exceeded the enrollment target set for it by the University of North Carolina General Administration; total enrollment at NCCU is now 8,501.

"The undergraduate admissions recruiters worked extremely hard to recruit new students who are academically prepared for college," said Sharon Oliver, associate vice chancellor for enrollment services. "We are ecstatic about the students who are enrolled and grateful for the support of the entire Eagle team."

The freshman class, although record-setting, is about what administrators expected last month despite an even greater increase in the number of new students admitted to the school.

The school admitted 3,527 students for the fall, which was a whopping jump from the 2,188 students it had admitted a year ago. Administrators believed around 1,500 of those admitted would actually enroll -- significantly more than initial projections.

Earlier in the spring, officials had projected that 1,188 first-year students would arrive on campus. When they realized the class size would be much greater, and that the university would run out of available beds in residence halls on campus, NCCU contracted over the summer with the Millennium Hotel on Morreene Road to house around 300 students.

Those students are juniors and seniors; all first-year students, even when there are 1,347 of them, are guaranteed on-campus housing.