Over the past decade, there has been an increase in students interested in attending the University of South Florida.
And that has made acceptance to the university more competitive.
Enrollment is up 9.3% from last year, making the 2030 class USF's largest in five years.
These students also had the highest average grade-point average in university history at 4.29, said Stephanie Harff, USF associate vice president of strategic enrollment management.
That includes 7,393 new undergraduate students with an average SAT score of 1328, and 83 National Merit Scholars.
Why USF?
"Students are choosing USF because we offer tremendous value," Harff told "Florida Matters Live & Local" host Matthew Peddie.
"It's an affordable institution that offers an excellent top-tier public research university education, and so we are seeing an increase in the number of students who are interested in applying to USF every year," she added.
As more people learn about USF and see what the university has to offer, it is increasing the number of applications the school receives for the next academic school year.
This includes the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report, which rated USF among the nation’s top 50 public universities for the eighth year.
Another factor that has made USF more attractive to applicants is its inclusion into the Association of American Universities in 2023. AAU is a prestigious group of America's leading research universities.
ALSO READ: Why joining Association of American Universities puts USF on another level
Prasant Mohapatra, USF provost and executive vice president, shared how important the focus on improving their research programs enterprise is to increasing USF's funding from both federal and state agencies and businesses.
"That recognition tells that we are one of the leading research universities, and our membership in AAU further attests to that," Mohapatra said. "These rankings and recognition by independent agencies add value to the degree that they obtain, and we intend to maintain this status as we go further."
Mohapatra also said that there are multiple factors to consider to maintain and improve the school's ranking and legacy as part of the AAU.
“Some of the metrics that we look closer into are the student graduation rate, student performance and what are the outcomes?" Mohapatra said. "[After graduating], what kind of job did they get, and what is their starting salary?
How USF is continuing to grow
USF is continuing to grow with construction of an on-campus football stadium and Uptown Landing, a public-private development on the former site of the university's golf course.
Harff said that athletics creates enthusiasm and interest in USF, so many USF community members and donors are excited for the stadium.
Uptown Landing will create more campus housing, and programming and research space.
ALSO READ: USF breaks ground on $500M Uptown Landing development
"All of this investment is really going to support our institution," Harff said. "As the provost mentioned, we're always trying to improve, and all of these new facilities are really going to help us do that."
