SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University is seeing its freshmen enrollment and applications increase.

Amanda Yale, SRU's associate provost for enrollment management, said freshman applications are up 189, or 3.3 percent, since summer and fall of 2015, and freshmen deposits are up by 64, or 4.9 percent.

She credited the quality of the school's academic programs, including new pre-professional programs, for the uptick.

“New programs in health sciences, human services, engineering and criminology are leading the way,” Yale said. “Pre-professional programs, in particular, have drawn a strong interest from our prospective students and their families.”

First-time freshman applications increased from 5,685 in 2015 to 5,874 in 2016; applications from students in the United States increased by 124, while international student applications rose by 65. The average grade point average of applicants increased as well, from 3.33 to 3.37, she said.

The school said its graduate and transfer recruitment efforts also are showing strong growth, with fall transfer applications up by 80 students and graduate applications for summer and fall up by 184 over last year. Much of that increase is due to a new graduate program in physician assistant studies, which will launch this summer with 52 students, Yale said.

The university also reported strong growth in its summer program, with more than 200 online classes scheduled for 2016.