SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State University has 21,407 students officially enrolled this fall, 445 more than last September. The enrollment is a record for the university.

The enrollment includes 19,705 students on the Springfield campus, (241, or 1.6 percent, higher than last year) and 1,771 on the West Plains campus (120, or 11 percent, higher than last year). Sixty-nine students are enrolled on both campuses but are only counted once in the total. The enrollments for each campus are records.

MSU’s long range plan calls for “modest increases” in enrollment over the next four academic years “while raising standards for entering first-time students and increasing diversity,” said President Mike Nietzel. “We accomplished all three components of that goal this year.”

The official fall enrollment report for the Springfield campus shows the average ACT of entering freshmen is 24, a high mark. In addition, the report indicates international students are up 247 (40.6 percent), which includes 97 students on the China campus. The number of minority students increased by 88 (7.3 percent), while the number of continuing students is up by 199 (1.6 percent) and the number of out-of-state students is up 124 (10.9 percent). One of the more significant increases among student groups is with new graduate degree-seeking students, which increased by 86 (15.9 percent).

Don Simpson, assistant vice president for enrollment management and services, said MSU got a record number of applications from potential freshmen for this year. He said enrollment grew in all but two academic years since 1995, when SMSU began raising its admission standards. Enrollment has grown nearly 20 percent in that period, from 16,470 to 19,705.

The student body in Springfield includes students from nearly every county in Missouri, 47 other states and 80 other countries. MSU is the second largest university in the state, behind the University of Missouri in Columbia, which has alittle more than 28,000 students. Fall official enrollment figures are based on the 20th day of classes, Missouri’s official enrollment census date.