Friday Is Move-In Day at ASU

Fall Semester Classes Begin August 26

Story by Anna Oakes and Katrina Benton

New River Light & Power employee Jason Herman changes a light pole banner along Rivers Street, signaling a change of season. Photo by Marie Freeman You’ve been warned. Freshman Move-In Day at Appalachian State University is this Friday, August 22. Make the necessary mental and strategic preparations for worse-than-normal traffic congestion, packed-out restaurants and retail stores and the occasional mattress pad flying onto the street.

It’s not all that bad, though. The return of ASU’s student population is a welcome boost to the local economy and a shot in the arm for the town’s nightlife. And many local nonprofits benefit from thousands of hours of community service completed by student volunteers.

Incoming freshmen will move into on-campus residence halls between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Returning students will move in on Saturday, August 23, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. More than 5,000 students reside on campus in 21 residence halls.

Tuesday, August 26, is the first day of fall classes.

This year’s freshman class population is 2,775, an increase of 40 students over last year. The Class of 2011 comes from an application pool of 15,193 hopefuls—2,000 more applications than last year. Incoming freshman have an average high school GPA of 3.88 and average SAT score of 1163—the highest averages ever for ASU’s freshman class. Last year, the GPA average was 3.74 and SATs averaged about 40 points lower.

Fifteen percent of the freshman class is from out of state. Out-of-state students come primarily from the states of Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina, but the freshman class also includes students from 84 different countries. In addition, 800 transfer students will graduate with the Class of 2011.

ASU’s total enrollment will be 16,600 in fall 2008, up from 15,871 in fall 2007. The student-to-faculty ratio is 17:1, and the average class size is 24. The male-to-female student ratio at ASU is almost dead even at 49:51.

By the 2013 fall semester, ASU’s Office of Institutional Research, Assessment & Planning estimates the university’s total enrollment will be 18,547. That figure includes students enrolled in ASU’s Distance Education (off-campus) programs.