Enrollment figures for this fall are in, and Iowa State can boast the fourth-largest fall enrollment in university history.

A total of 26,110 students, a 525-student increase from last fall, enrolled in ISU this fall.

Of that number, 21,901 students are studying for undergraduate degrees — a 474 student increase over last year. Graduate student enrollment is 4,206, which is an increase of 51 students from last year.

This fall marks the first time since 1986 that ISU topped 26,000 students.

John McCarroll, director of University Relations, said the university is pleased with this year’s enrollment.

“All of us at the university are very excited to see the increase,” he said. “It has resulted from a lot of people in the admissions office and in the various colleges that are recruiting students.”

McCarroll said the professors and staff have done a great job of meeting with the students and “really providing a very good look at Iowa State University as the university of choice.”

Marc Harding, director of Admissions, said recruiting students takes “a multi-pronged approach. It involves utilizing the entire university community.”

A lot of emphasis was placed on campus visits, with nearly 14,000 visitors coming to ISU in the past year, he said.

Harding said the university will continue these recruitment methods to boost enrollment in future years.

“We will continue to focus on Iowa while also expanding efforts to attract students from out of state,” he said.

A large portion of this year’s enrollment is 4,085 freshmen — the largest freshmen class in 16 years.

The freshmen class includes 115 National Merit Scholars, 10 National Hispanic Scholars and nine National Achievement Scholars. The number of National Hispanic and National Achievement Scholars broke a university record for entering freshmen.

Minority enrollment made a 39-student increase to 1,726, while the international enrollment declined from 2,459 last year to this fall’s 2,441.

There were 1,724 transfer students, a 36-student drop from last fall.