More than 700 new freshman, combined with 100 transfer students will move onto the Anderson University campus on Saturday, August 20, ready to begin their college careers. The freshman class is expected to set a record for the 11th year in a row and the overall number of new students could eclipse last year’s record as well. Final enrollment numbers won’t be complete until mid-September.
Move-in at AU is an inspiring sight as volunteers swoop down on each newly arriving car to help students and their families. Many barely have time to turn around before all of their student’s belongings are in his or her residence hall room quickly.
The new year for freshmen begins in earnest on Sunday with a matriculation service and the traditional march through the archway at the front of campus. Parents line the walkways in a gauntlet of support as their students officially say goodbye and begin their college careers. Those students will march through the archway one more time – in four years as they graduate and say goodbye to AU.
Along with its distinction as perhaps the largest in Anderson University history, the new class of freshmen is one of the most academically qualified in school history as well. With remarkable growth over the past decade, AU is now the second largest private university in South Carolina and enrollment is expected to climb above the 3,400 mark in this academic year.
The new crop of students will be the first to enjoy the brand new, 90 thousand-square-foot G. Ross Anderson Jr. student center, which features a brand new state-of-the-art dining commons, retail food outlets from Chick-fil-a and Einstein’s bagels, a fitness center, movie theater, and a banquet hall among other amenities.