BATON ROUGE – Southern University officials said Tuesday new enrollment numbers mark the beginning of a new chapter in their history. 

The system’s fall enrollment has risen by 490 students with a 31 percent increase for freshmen enrollment in their Baton Rouge campus.

Officials pointed to new strategies and initiatives for their success. One of those was a targeted recruitment campaign which sent administrators, student government, SUBR's Human Jukebox band and cheerleaders to several metro areas like Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta to recruit students.

According to the release, overall enrollment for the Baton Rouge campus increased by more than 200 students over the previous year. Baton Rouge enrollment data shows 6,389 students with 1,210 new freshmen enrolled in fall 2015 semester.

The new Baton Rouge fall freshmen come from 30 different states and Washington D.C. The top five states are Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Georgia and Florida. The top five declared majors are nursing, business management, criminal justice, biology and mechanical engineering.

“This year’s success is the result of the shared effort of Jaguars across the country. Southern University is witnessing the first significant enrollment gain in nearly a decade. We will never be able to count the hours that students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners contributed to realizing this goal,” said Brandon K. Dumas, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management, SUBR.

“I am confident that 2015 marks the beginning of a new chapter in this institution’s history,” Chancellor Ray L. Belton said. “Our enrollment increases will infuse more general fund and auxiliary dollars into the Baton Rouge campus to support academic instruction, research, student support services, and campus life programs.”