OU's Freshman Class Largest In School History

Thursday, August 16th 2007, 3:18 pm

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The University of Oklahoma's freshman class is the largest in school and state history, breaking a record set five years ago, university President David Boren said Thursday.

The freshman class enrollment of 3,865 breaks the previous record of 3,833 freshmen set in 2002.

It is the largest freshman class in state history at a four-year public university.

The class percentage of students enrolled at OU who graduated from Oklahoma high schools in spring 2007 increased to 6.8%, up from 6% of 2006 Oklahoma high school graduates enrolled at OU last year.

The freshman class includes 174 National Merit Scholars, up from 137 last year.

With more than 600 total National Merit Scholars enrolled at OU for the 2007-2008 academic year, the university has more merit scholars per capita than any other public university in the nation.

This year's freshman class also has nearly 300 State Regents Scholars, those who rank in the top one-half of 1% in the nation in test scores.

The freshman class includes 400 students who finished their high school careers with 4.0 grade-point averages, which is more than 10% of the entire freshman class.

Boren said OU's Campaign for Scholarships has raised more than $90 million in scholarship gifts and pledges in the past 3 1/2 years, doubling the availability of financial help for OU students and equaling the amount of scholarships raised in the prior 110 years of the university's history.

"We are proud to say that many students are already feeling the results of this drive, with new funds being awarded in the form of Sooner Heritage Scholarships," he said. "In the past two years, 5,000 students received such financial awards, which range from $500 to $1,000 per student for an academic year."