SLIPPERY ROCK — With 1,586 new freshmen and 599 transfer students, a total of 2,185, Slippery Rock University has set an entering-student class record as it celebrates its 125th anniversary year.

Both undergraduate and graduate student enrollments are up from the previous year. Overall enrollment at 8,495 is up 1.77 percent compared to last year’s 8,347 students.

Graduate student enrollment is up nearly 20.74 percent compared to last year.

“We have the largest ever first-time, full-time freshman class, surpassing the previous 1,575-student Class of 2010,” said Carrie Birckbichler, associate provost for academic planning, resource management and assessment.

The previous record for an entering class was 2,126 students in 2012.

In 2013, there were 1,408 new freshmen and 622 transfer students, for a total of 2,030.

There are 7,587 undergraduates and 908 graduate students taking fall semester classes. In 2013, there were 7,595 undergraduates and 752 graduate students. SRU’s new master of business administration degree program helped bolster graduate student enrollments.

In-state enrollment moved from 7,367 last year to 7,492 this year while students from out-of-state dropped by one, to 911. International student enrollment rose from 69 a year ago to 93 this fall.

SRU’s retention rate for freshmen showed 81.6 percent of the students who started in 2013 returned for classes this fall. This was down slightly from 82.4 percent last year.