LSUS tops 11,000 student enrollment for first time in school history

LSUS tops 11,000 student enrollment for first time in school history

SHREVEPORT - Just 18 months after LSU Shreveport crossed the 10,0000-student enrollment mark for the first time, the university can now say it's scaled the 11,000-student plateau.

LSUS announced a record enrollment of 11,359 for Fall 2025 after the census date of its second fall session.

The figure is nearly a five percent increase from Fall 2024 and up more than 400 students from the previous enrollment record of 10,926 in Spring 2025.

This is the fifth straight semester that LSUS has set either an overall enrollment record or a summer enrollment record (Summer 2025).

"We are very excited to set yet another enrollment record for Fall 2025," said LSUS Chancellor Dr. Robert Smith. "LSU Shreveport is increasing in every category: undergraduate, graduate, on-campus, online and dual enrollment.

"With these constant increases, it is clear that we are meeting critical educational needs here in Northwest Louisiana and beyond."

While LSUS's graduate student population has typically driven its enrollment throughout the past 12 years (which has nearly tripled since 2013), the most recent increase came from undergraduate students.

Undergraduate students are up 15 percent from Fall 2024, and the 3,144 total is nearly 700 students more from just three years ago.

The university grew its first-time freshmen (12 percent), transfers (23 percent) and dual enrollment/other (45 percent) from Fall 2024.

Graduate student enrollment remained steady at 8,215, a more than one percent increase from the previous year.

The prolonged enrollment boom has positive impacts on the university as a whole.

Pilots Pointe Apartments, LSUS's on-campus housing, is full for the first time in recent history and has a waiting list.

The LSUS administration is reinvesting in the physical campus as well as expanding the size of faculty and staff because of larger budgets - which crossed $100 million for the first time.

"We are enrollment driven, and about 85 percent of our budget is determined by our enrollment," Smith said. "With the new strategic plan we adopted this past spring, we're looking to grow where we have room to grow as part of an optimized enrollment strategy.

"Our budget is rock solid, and at a time when many institutions are having to consider budget reductions and layoffs, we're doing quite the opposite. We're the fastest growing university in Louisiana over the past 10 years."

Smith said the university is seeking funding for an on-campus residence hall, something the college has never had in its nearly 60-year history.

LSUS has also never had a dedicated recreation and workout space for students. The Louisiana State Legislature has pledged $10 million toward LSUS's health and wellness hub, a project that is a centerpiece of widespread renovations to the Health and Physical Education building.

The hub will be located in the space that housed the Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Other renovations include multiple biology labs and one physics lab, some of which hadn't been significantly updated since the university's founding.

Modern lab space will accommodate not only traditional LSUS science students but new students who enroll in joint allied health programs that LSUS and LSU Health are offering.