A big surge in enrollment this

fall from Fulton and DeKalb counties for the first time moved those two

jurisdictions slightly ahead of Fayette County as "feeders"

for students at Clayton College & State University.

University spokesman John Shiffert

said last week that a record 5,661 students were enrolled this fall. As

has traditionally been the case, Clayton State's two main "feeder"

counties for students are Clayton and Henry counties, representing 29.6

percent and 16.6 percent, respectively, he said.

Fayette County had ranked among

the university's typical "Big Three" for years, Shiffert

said, until this fall when 446 students from Fayette enrolled.

Altogether, students from Clayton,

Henry, Fulton, DeKalb and Fayette counties made up 73.7 percent of Clayton

State's fall 2003 enrollment. Other Top 10 counties in enrollment were

Rockdale, Coweta, Spalding, Gwinnett and Newton.

Clayton State has more international

students than students from other states, Shiffert said. The 344 international

students at Clayton represent 6 percent of the entire student body, he

said, with the leading nationalities being Vietnam (39), Nigeria (38),

Jamaica (28) and India (25).

Approximately 5 percent of

Clayton State's students come from states other than Georgia, with Florida

(38), Alabama (21), California (19) and Texas (17) the top four.

Demographically, African-American

students make up the largest single group at 47 percent, followed by white

students at 41.5 percent. Multiracial and Asian/Pacific Islander students

account for 4.3 and 4 percent, and Hispanics 2.6 percent. In addition,

28 American Indian or Alaskan Native students call the university home.

With an average age of 28,

Clayton State students range from 17 to over 65, with the highest concentration

between the ages of 18 and 26, said Shiffert, but 1,800 are between the

ages of 27 and 38, and 659 students are between 40 and 50.

The School of Arts & Sciences

remains the largest of the University's five academic units, with

2,066 students.

More information on Clayton

State's enrollment can be found on the University's Institutional

Research Web site, maintained by Director of Institutional Research Dr.

Ming Wang, a t adminservices.clayton.edu/irp/.