Virginia State University has never been bigger. The university announced Oct. 20 that it enrolled more than 6,350 students for the 2026-27 school year, the largest enrollment in its documented history. The previous high was just over 6,200, set in 2012.
The freshman class set a record of its own. Virginia State welcomed 1,725 first-time freshmen this fall, the largest entering class in the university’s history.
“Virginia State University has never served more students or welcomed a larger entering freshman class than we have this year,” said Dr. Alexis Brooks-Walter, vice president for student success and administration. “That is a powerful statement about the confidence students and families are placing in this institution.”
The milestone is the latest step in a long climb. Virginia State began its first academic year in 1883-84 with 126 students. In fall 2020, it enrolled 4,020. This year’s total is about 58% higher than six years ago and roughly 600 students above last fall.
| Term | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|
| 2012 (previous record) | Just over 6,200 |
| Fall 2020 | 4,020 |
| Fall 2024 | 5,605 |
| Fall 2025 | 5,754 |
| 2026-27 | More than 6,350 |
The growth reaches well beyond the classroom. At Virginia State, students fund most of the athletics budget, and the university’s research profile is built on its graduate programs. A record student body touches both.
Students Are Choosing Virginia State
The demand behind the record shows up in the admissions numbers. For fall 2024, Virginia State received 11,775 applications, admitted 10,436 students, and enrolled a first-time class of 1,489. This fall’s class of 1,725 is 236 students larger, a jump of about 16% in two years.
The university draws from well beyond Virginia. In fall 2024, 68% of first-time students were in-state, and 31% were out-of-state.
Virginia State’s growth is also a story about access. In 2023-24, 91% of degree-seeking undergraduates received grant or scholarship aid, and 72% received Pell Grants. The average net price for in-state freshmen receiving federal student aid was $15,840, and $13,220 for students from families earning $30,000 or less.
More Students Are Staying
A record enrollment is built on returning students as much as new ones, and Virginia State is keeping more of its freshmen. Of the 1,482 full-time freshmen who started in fall 2024, 1,090 came back for their second year. That is a retention rate of 73.5%, up from 69.4% for the class before it.
That 4.1-point jump turned the trend back upward after three straight dips, and the 1,090 returning sophomores were the most of any class in the university’s published figures.
| Freshman Class | Full-Time Freshmen | Returned for Year 2 | Retention Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2020 | 882 | 668 | 75.7% |
| Fall 2021 | 913 | 667 | 73.1% |
| Fall 2022 | 1,374 | 978 | 71.2% |
| Fall 2023 | 1,444 | 1,002 | 69.4% |
| Fall 2024 | 1,482 | 1,090 | 73.5% |
The gain matters because the classes kept getting bigger. Virginia State’s freshman classes grew by 68% from fall 2020 to fall 2024, and the most recent class retained students at a higher rate.
The university has set a goal of at least a 75% freshman retention rate. The fall 2024 class came within 1.5 points of it.
More students are finishing faster, too. Of the freshmen who started in fall 2022, 25.8% graduated in four years, the best four-year rate among the last six classes. The fall 2021 class posted a five-year graduation rate of 39.3%, also the best in that span.
Brooks-Walter tied the record directly to that work. “Our responsibility is to match this historic enrollment with an equally strong commitment to their success, from the moment they arrive through the day they earn their degrees,” she said.
Enrollment Has Outpaced the Plan
The record did not come out of nowhere. Materials presented to the Board of Visitors’ finance committee on Sept. 10 show that fall 2025 enrollment was already well above the university’s plan.
| Fall 2025 | Budget | Actual | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headcount | 5,250 | 5,754 | +504 |
| Full-time | 4,905 | 5,314 | +409 |
| On campus | 3,700 | 3,834 | +134 |
Those extra students showed up across the university’s books for the 2025-26 budget year. Total sources totaled $387 million, 128% of the $303 million budget, and the university finished $78.2 million ahead. That total also includes $50.3 million in gifts, among them the MacKenzie Scott donation.
The board summary credits enrollment exceeding budget and higher revenue from the state, fees, and grants. It also notes new costs tied to the larger student body, including student housing.
Students Power Trojan Athletics
That matters for athletics because Virginia State’s students are the department’s biggest backers. The athletics department reported $10.16 million in operating revenue for the 2024-25 school year in its financial report to the NCAA, and nearly 90% came from student fees and direct university support.
| Revenue Source (2024-25) | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Student fees | $5,633,310 | 55.4% |
| Direct university support | $3,493,375 | 34.4% |
| Indirect university support and facilities debt service | $407,177 | 4.0% |
| Contributions | $269,092 | 2.6% |
| Ticket sales | $223,895 | 2.2% |
| Sports camps | $65,505 | 0.6% |
| NCAA distributions | $44,291 | 0.4% |
| Conference distributions | $11,759 | 0.1% |
| All other (net) | $14,480 | 0.1% |
| Total | $10,162,884 | 100% |
This mix differs from the university as a whole. University-wide, tuition and fees made up 9% of core revenue in 2023-24, while state appropriations made up 39%. In athletics, student fees are the foundation.
Which Division 2 HBCUs Are Built for the Jump to the MEAC or SWAC? takes a deeper look at Virginia State’s student athletic fee and how its athletics budget stacks up against the rest of Division II.
A Growing Fee Account Lifts Athletics
Virginia State charges full-time students a comprehensive fee that supports athletics, student activities, student health services, campus security, the radio station, and other student services. For undergraduates, that fee was $3,076 in 2024-25, $3,230 in 2025-26, and $3,311 this year.
| School Year | Comprehensive Fee | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | $3,076 | N/A |
| 2025-26 | $3,230 | +5.0% |
| 2026-27 | $3,311 | +2.5% |
Because every full-time student pays it, the fee account grows as enrollment grows. Comprehensive fee revenue reached $16.9 million in 2025-26, 112% of budget, which the board report credits to “higher than budgeted enrollment.”
Athletics is the largest beneficiary. Athletics spending from the comprehensive fee account grew to $10.6 million in 2025-26, up from $9.3 million the year before, and reached 114% of its budget, which the report ties to “increased Athletics program and special initiative activities.”
| Comprehensive Fee Account | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive fee revenue | $15,626,720 | $16,943,488 | +8.4% |
| Spending on athletics | $9,322,066 | $10,617,741 | +13.9% |
| Total spending from the account | $16,296,899 | $16,762,959 | +2.9% |
| Athletics share of spending | 57.2% | 63.3% | +6.1 pts |
Put simply, about 63 cents of every dollar spent from the account last year went to the Trojans.
The account still finished ahead of plan. The 2025-26 budget expected to draw about $1.6 million from reserves. Instead, fee revenue came in $1.77 million above budget, and the account added $1.7 million to reserves.
Investment Beyond the Fee
Athletics support grew elsewhere, too. In the university’s local funds, which come from gifts, investment earnings and foundation support, athletics spending reached $502,969 in 2025-26, up from $54,858 the year before. The report ties the increase to camps, locker room planning and athletic initiatives.
Ticket sales, athletic event payments, and facility rentals in the comprehensive fee account totaled $416,851, or 139% of budget.
Construction on campus also affects game day. The new $27.7 million Welcome Center, funded by state bonds and targeted for occupancy in summer 2027, will house admissions and institutional advancement and includes a balcony overlooking Rogers Stadium. A $26.6 million Trojan Recreation and Wellness Center, with a multipurpose gymnasium and event space, is targeted for fall 2027.
The Athletes Behind the Numbers
Virginia State sponsored 20 varsity teams in 2024-25, 10 for men and 10 for women. The department awarded $2.27 million in athletic aid to 244 athletes, the equivalent of 69.75 full scholarships. Football alone carried 132 players, 75 of whom received athletic aid.
On the field, the football program has given the growing student body plenty to cheer about. Through the games of Oct. 17, Virginia State was 7-1 and unbeaten against Division II opponents. Three SIAC Teams Top Super Region 2 in Division II’s New NCAA Power Index breaks down where the Trojans sit in Super Region 1, including the CIAA games at Johnson C. Smith on Oct. 31 and at home against Virginia Union on Nov. 7.
A Research University on the Rise
Virginia State is also one of 13 HBCUs with an R2 designation, “High Research Spending and Doctorate Production,” in the Carnegie Classifications released in February 2025. R2 requires at least $5 million in research spending and at least 20 research doctorates.
Research doctorates are the Ph.D.-style degrees only, not professional doctorates such as a law or pharmacy degree.
| School Year | Research Spending | Research Doctorates |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | $10.1 million | 11 |
| 2021-22 | $12.3 million | 8 |
| 2022-23 | $13.5 million | 27 |
| 2023-24 | $13.3 million | 19 |
| 2024-25 | Not yet reported | 17 |
| R2 minimum | $5.0 million | 20 |
Research spending has grown 31% since 2020-21 and has topped twice the R2 minimum in every reported year. The Virginia State research dashboard tracks both measures year by year.
Doctorate production is up from the start of the decade, too. After 11 in 2020-21 and eight in 2021-22, Virginia State awarded 27 research doctorates in 2022-23, the total that carried it through the 2025 designations. For that cycle, Carnegie used the higher of a school’s three-year average or its most recent year.
Carnegie has said future releases will use only a three-year average, and it has not yet announced which years the next cycle will cover. With preliminary 2024-25 figures added, Virginia State’s three most recent years average 21 research doctorates, above the R2 bar.
Those degrees come out of a graduate school that enrolled 481 students in fall 2024. In 2024-25, Virginia State awarded 702 bachelor’s degrees, 115 master’s degrees, and 17 research doctorates, 14 of them in education and three in psychology.
NC A&T and Morgan State’s R1 journey shows how the same three-year math works at the R1 level, and the HBCU Research Hub compares Virginia State with the other 13 research HBCUs.
The university is planning for that research future, too. Virginia State’s top request in its 2027 capital budget is a new Interdisciplinary STEM Building of about 70,000 square feet for instruction and research, funded with state bonds. The request notes that the existing STEM buildings average 45 years old.
The request sizes Virginia State’s need for research, laboratory, and service space at about 129,000 square feet, based on State Council of Higher Education for Virginia standards for an enrollment of 6,000. Virginia State has now passed that mark.
What Comes Next
The record class arrives with the largest student body in Virginia State’s history. The 2026-27 financial reports will be the first to show what that growth means for the Trojans, the campus and the research enterprise.
“Students are choosing VSU in record numbers, and that choice matters,” President Makola M. Abdullah said. “It affirms the value of what we are building here and challenges us to continue raising the bar. We are growing, we are advancing, and we are demonstrating every day that Greater Happens Here.”
