LSU Shreveport ‘growing in every category’ sees third semester of record enrollment

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — LSU Shreveport has broken its enrollment record for the third straight semester. The university has 10,926 students, and the second spring session is in full swing.

“We’re growing in absolutely every category. We’re growing undergraduate, we’re growing graduate, we’re growing face to face, we’re growing online, we’re growing dual enrollment, which are high school students taking classes with us,” said LSUS Chancellor Dr. Robert Smith.

Dr. Smith says the university is a critical partner in what’s happening in Shreveport today.

“Key sources of undergraduate growth this spring include new transfer students (up 37 percent from Spring 2024) and first-time freshmen (up 53 percent),” a press release stated.

In December 2024, the university graduated more than 1500 students. Dr. Smith said the number of graduates required them to add another graduation ceremony.

“Despite graduating that many, we went up and up sharply once again, and I think it’s a reflection that the programs that we have are meeting needs right here in Shreveport and Louisiana at large,” said Smith.

Smith added that the LSUS faculty and staff are singularly focused on students’ success, there are programs to keep students successful, and the retention rate is up sharply.

“There’s a national measure of how well you move students through to graduation onto good jobs, it’s called the social mobility index, which tracks students who are Pell eligible, that’s the highest level of federal financial aid, so how well you move them from starting to graduation and onto good paying jobs, and we are number one in the state of Louisiana for that,” said Dr. Smith.

The Spring graduation takes place in May, and there will again be two ceremonies.

“It’s going to be huge. I’m excited. It’s the best day of the year, even though we do it three times a year. It’s our best three days, you know everybody is happy, and we’re celebrating in many cases the graduations of first-generation students,” said Dr. Smith.