USC had its largest ever freshman class. How much does the president expect it to grow?

University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis is predicting that the school’s enrollment could reach a major milestone in the near future.

At his State of the University address on Sept. 11, Amiridis touted USC’s growth.

“As we continue to replace the smaller class sizes we had during COVID, our enrollment may exceed 40,000 students within the next two years,” Amiridis said. “These numbers represent a strong vote of confidence in USC by students and their families.”

For the third straight year, USC welcomed its largest-ever freshman class this fall, after receiving a record-breaking 52,708 applicants. Some 7,290 freshman students arrived to campus in August. About 52% of students in the 2024 freshman class are South Carolinians, from each of the state’s 46 counties. Nearly 28% of freshman students are underrepresented minority students, a 17% increase since 2023. About 1,500 freshman students are first-generation college attendees.

Following USC’s promise to guarantee admission to South Carolina high school students in the top 10% of their graduating class — one of the school’s new efforts to increase accessibility — more than 1,000 students starting this fall were in the top 10% of their South Carolina high school class, a 10% increase since 2023.

Overall enrollment at USC has also reached a historic high, exceeding 38,300, according to early figures. It’s the first time the student body has surpassed 38,000 students, and about 2,000 more than the 36,538 student who attended the university last fall.

It’s thanks to efforts to retain students, the university has said. This includes early intervention programs that help students stay on track to earn their degrees, like the Graduation and Retention Network and the Scholarship Risk Intervention program.

System-wide enrollment rose by more than 5% for a total of 54,485 students statewide.

“We are proud of our continued enrollment growth, particularly our success in attracting new students from across the state,” Scott Verzyl, USC’s vice president for enrollment management, said in a news release. “Our high retention rate is a testament to the value we provide to students and their families. This growth underscores the unique opportunities and exceptional education that USC offers to all students.”

As the student body grows, the university said its Board of Trustees is actively planning for the future. USC Next, the newly approved, updated master plan, lays groundwork for the next decade of development on the university’s campus.

The plan has ambitions for improved athletic venues, more parking and transportation options, replacing a dorm and renovating several buildings and breaking ground on a sprawling health campus in the heart of Columbia’s BullStreet district. One goal is to partner with a private developer to transform the hundreds of acres near Williams-Brice Stadium into a potential entertainment corridor similar to the likes of The Battery in Atlanta, adjacent to the Braves’ Truist Park. Another is to be a key player in the city’s downtown development, including South Main Street.

The student body has grown by more than 4,500 students in the last 10 years and by about 9,000 in the last 15 years. This enrollment growth, and an estimated future growth of about 2% per year, has allowed for much of the projects outlined in the master plan.