Fayetteville State University sees student population growth, major projects underway

Some of the growth at Fayetteville State University can be attributed to Chancellor Darrell Allison.

Allison said there are several projects underway on campus, including a Chick-fil-A and a Starbucks due to open later this year.

Construction is also underway for a new dormitory, parking deck and student health center. They’re expected to open in 2025.

Two years ago, Fayetteville State University implemented a program to make the university tuition-free for the military and their families.

“Since we've announced that in 2022, we've seen nearly a 25% increase of that student population alone, and we plan to grow that over a period of time,” Allison said. “We're really excited."

Fayetteville State University has 6,878 students enrolled in 2023, according to Allison. It’s an increase from 6,787 students in 2022 and 6,754 students in 2021.

Allison said about 51% of the students are on campus, 48% are commuters and 32% have a military connection.

According to its 2023 campus census, Fayetteville State welcomed the class of 2027, its largest first-year, first-time freshman class since 2007, with more than 800 students. The university also hit an all-time high for military-affiliated student enrollment, surpassing 2,000 for the second consecutive year with 2,168 military-affiliated students.

Allison said he takes pride in the progress made during the past three years. He responded to those who question the value of getting a four-year college degree.

“At Fayetteville State University, we want to straighten the question mark out to an explanation point, and say, at Fayetteville State University, it is,” Allison said.

In September 2023, Fayetteville State scored its highest student retention rate in recent years to nearly 78% which is a staggering increase of 14% in just two years (63.3%) in 2020.