The  2020 Conway census results show the lowest population percentage growth, 8.9, since the Great Depression. The city showed an increase of 5,266 citizens which was about 3,000 less than the projected population increase, according to thecabin.net. 

The Hispanic and African American population have shown the biggest increase in population, while the White population showed the biggest decrease, followed by the Asian population. 

One of the few areas that saw a loss of population was near Harkrider and Oak streets. Interestingly enough, the blocks around UCAs campus saw an increase of 12.7 percent while the blocks around Hendrix saw a decrease of 10.1 percent. 

On UCAs campus, results from the bear facts showed almost twice as many women enrolled in college last year as men. The total percentage of women enrolled was a staggering 61.9 percent compared to the male percentage of 38.1. 

The White population had 2.6 percent more enrollees than the minority populations. But UCA has shown a steady decline in enrollment since 2016, with around 100-200 less enrolling each year. This can be attributed partly to COVID-19, as schools across the country showed a decline in enrollment over the past year and a half. With schools going back to in-class sessions, many might have thought that the numbers would have gone upward, but that has not been the case. 

Tajaro Hudson, associate director of diversity and communication said, “Generally speaking though, the decline in students graduating from highschool inevitably leads to a decline in the amount of freshmen we have every year. This then goes on to decrease the number of members we have in our RSO’s as well as the amount of student leaders that emerge.” 

In UCA, the Black population made up 16.6 percent of enrolled students, with the Hispanic population being 7.2 percent and the White population being 69.7 percent. 

The top five countries represented last year were the Bahamas, Côte d’Ivoire, Japan, China and Nigeria. The number of in-state enrollees was 8,929, out-of-state was 998 and international was 408. 

The area of study that had the most declared majors was Health and Behavioral Sciences with 3,227. Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences majors had the second biggest amount, with Business and Natural Sciences and Mathematics following close behind. 

For first-time undergraduates, the average ACT score was 24.2, the average GPA was 3.59 and the amount enrolled was 1,715. 

The total number of undergraduate students was 8,615 and the total number of graduate students was 1,720. 

With the pandemic still affecting enrollment and population percentages, there will hopefully be higher numbers next year.