The Freshman Class Broke the Record Again

North Carolina A&T just enrolled 15,700 students and its largest first-year class ever. It is the thirteenth straight year of growth, and it is not alone. Across the country, HBCUs opened this fall bigger than they have ever been.

By Culture

September 4, 2026

The Freshman Class Broke the Record Again

THE SHORT VERSION

North Carolina A&T enrolled about 15,700 students for fall 2026, including a record 3,214 first-year students. Enrollment has grown thirteen years in a row.

Florida Memorial University enrolled 2,556 students, the most in its 147-year history and double last fall.

Winston-Salem State hit 5,210. Edward Waters, Florida's first HBCU, reached 1,281, up 37 percent since 2019.

Somewhere in Greensboro, North Carolina, right now, 3,214 eighteen-year-olds are learning where the good dining hall is. They are the largest first-year class in the history of North Carolina A&T State University, the largest historically Black university in the country. Total enrollment this fall is about 15,700. That is thirteen straight years of growth. Thirteen.

The story is not one school. It is a pattern.

THE LEDGER

Here is what the fall 2026 numbers look like at HBCUs that have reported so far.

1North Carolina A&T, Greensboro: about 15,700 students, a record 3,214 first-years, more than 800 transfers, and more than 2,000 graduate students. The average incoming freshman carries a 3.7 high school GPA, and 81.2 percent of first-years come back for a second year.

2Winston-Salem State, North Carolina: 5,210 students, a record, with growth in both freshmen and graduate students.

3Florida Memorial University, Miami Gardens: 2,556 students, the largest enrollment in the school's 147-year history and double the fall 2025 number.

4Edward Waters University, Jacksonville, Florida's first HBCU: 1,281 students, up 5.4 percent from last year and up 37.4 percent from 932 in 2019.