SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University announced 12 percent of the members of this year's freshman class came from the top 10 percent of their high school class.

"Our goal has been to continue to improve the quality and diversity of our student body," said Amanda Yale, associate provost of enrollment services, in a news release. "This year's entering class compares very favorably to last year's, with 42 percent of this year's freshmen ranked in the top 25 percent of their high school class compared to 39.6 percent last year."

The numbers show 83.6 percent of those enrolling this year came from the top half of their graduating class, compared to 80.4 percent a year ago. Entering students carried a 3.39 grade-point average in high school, the same as those entering a year ago.

Yale said this year's freshman class of 1,545 remains almost exactly the same size as a year ago, when 1,546 freshmen enrolled. The new student SAT average also remained nearly identical, 1026 compared to 1030.

Data shows 8,648 students enrolled for fall, up from 8,458 last year, representing a 2.25 percent increase.

Yale said freshmen retention numbers also were positive for fall, hitting the 80 percent mark for the first time and up from 79 percent a year ago. She said retention numbers for African-American students rose to 80.26 percent this year, up from 78.35 percent a year ago.

The male-to-female student ratio remained at 43 percent male, 57 percent female, nearly identical to a year ago. Enrollment for out-of-state students also grew this year by 6.3 percent.

SRU was named one of the safest campuses in the nation by The Daily Beast Web site. It is listed at No. 14.The "Safest Colleges" list was created using data universities must supply under the federal Cleary Act. The Daily Beast decided to evaluate how safe universities were following the recent murder of Yale University doctoral student Annie Le."Safety is always my No. 1 concern," said Robert Downey, SRU's chief of police in an SRU news release. "We work constantly to provide for the safety and security of our students, staff and visitors. It is priority number one."Our goal, of course, would be to be rated number one on next year's list."