DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Psychology freshman Astrid Henao said she is pleased that the enrollment statistics show that the Hispanic population is the highest ever at the UA, yesterday at the Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs Center. "I think it is awesome, a lot of times the Hispanic population is not well represented and it is good we are finally moving up."

Despite concerns last year that fewer students would come to the UA if a tuition hike was passed, the number of Hispanic and freshmen students on campus broke records this semester.

There are 4,950 Hispanic students at the university this year, compared to 4,855 Hispanic students last year, according to a report released yesterday by the office of assessment and enrollment research.

This year's freshman class of 5,958 students breaks the 2001 record by nine students. This is also an increase of 150 students from last year.

Patti Ota, vice president of enrollment management, said that the increase in Hispanic enrollment may be attributed to an "investment in financial aid and good recruiting efforts aimed at Hispanic communities."

In order for the school to be recognized as a Hispanic-serving institution, one of President Peter Likins' goals, 25 percent of the student population must be Hispanic.

"How soon we can get there (25 percent) is not the issue. The issue is that we are seen as an institution Hispanic students want to come to," Ota said.

Ota said that the university must try to cater to the surrounding demographics.

"Our first responsibility is to meet the needs of the state of Arizona. The state has a significant Hispanic population. Therefore, we must be seen as a comfortable place for Hispanic students to come and get degrees," Ota said.

Rick Kroc, director of the office of assessment and enrollment research, attributed the record enrollment to increased financial aid.

"I don't think we'd have had the enrollment if we had not used the extra tuition for financial aid," Kroc said.

After the regents approved the university's largest tuition increase of $1,000 for resident undergraduates, Likins used $14 million of the revenue generated by the increase for financial aid.

Total enrollment is now at 37,083 students, the highest it has ever been.

The university is using the new enrollment management policy group to review the enrollment statistics and find ways to improve retention among first-year students.

Improving retention is one way to increase overall enrollment, Ota said.

"If you assume we bring in the same number of freshmen, that translates into more sophomores if retention improves, and there will be more continuing students. Over a four-year period the size of the student body will increase," Ota said.

The current retention rate for freshmen is at 77 percent, said Rick Kroc, director of the office of enrollment research. This means that about a quarter of freshmen leave the school after their first years.

In the future, administrators plan to manage the rate at which enrollment increases and focus on retaining the students who attend.

The regents are changing the requirements for state-funded universities to give the universities more authority over whom they choose to admit.

Beginning in the fall of 2006, the freshman class admissions policies will change, Likins said.

The universities are now required to automatically admit all Arizona resident applicants who fall within the top 50 percent of their high school classes.

In 2006, the UA will only be required to admit the top 25 percent of the Arizona high school classes, and the next 25 percent will be admitted only after the university evaluates them on an individual basis.

"We need to make decisions on which students will be the most successful," said Ota, who believes this will help improve retention rates.

"Managing enrollment means trying to shape what the student body looks like in terms of overall size as well as divisions in graduate, undergraduate, residents, non-residents, transfer students, retention rates," Ota said.

"We absolutely need that flexibility because we can't keep growing unconditionally," Ota added.

The increase in the student body this year also includes a slight decrease in the numbers of transfer students and non-resident students.

The percentage of transfer students from Pima Community College is up, but the overall number of transfer students has decreased by 114 since 2001, resting now 1,845.

Members of the enrollment management policy group, which is looking for ways to keep the UA away from growing beyond capacity, include Ota, the chair of the group, as well as Likins, Provost George Davis, Financial Aid Director John Nametz, Kroc, Director of Admissions and New Student Enrollment Lori Goldman and deans of some colleges.