This fall, Penn State University admitted the largest freshman class in history -- and for next fall's class, the admissions office has already experienced a 24 percent increase in applications from this time last year.

But Patrick Smith, director of communications and customer services for the undergraduate admissions office, said he wasn't sure if this number was limited to undergraduate applications or if it included graduate applications.

The admissions office will watch how many students decide to come to the university and try to avoid a freshmen class as large as this fall, Smith said.

"We were surprised by the situation last year," he said. "But right now, we're not curtailing any of our recruitment activities."

Currently, the university has "a good enrollment situation," said Penn State President Graham Spanier at Tuesday's University Faculty Senate meeting.

He also encouraged faculty to "be flexible in accommodating whoever shows up next year."

Last year, the university closed with about 94,000 total applications, including graduate applications.

That fall, the university admitted the largest freshman class in Penn State history -- that number was last reported as being 8,302 students.

University Park enrolls about 42,000 students, Spanier said at the Faculty Senate meeting.

In the fall of 2005, the university's main campus enrolled 40,709 students, according to the fact book that is available at www.budget.psu.edu.

But the increase wasn't limited to the University Park campus. Penn State finished with about 1,500 additional students at its other campuses, Smith said.

Students are admitted to Penn State on a rolling basis, and the admissions office usually receives the majority of its college applications mainly during the month of November.

However, they're going to continue to accept applications for the rest of the year and sometimes consider applications weeks before the fall semester starts, Smith said.

This fall, the large freshman class caused about 140 Resident Assistants to live with students until other rooms became available.

The administration also delayed the renovation of Runkle Hall to make room for upperclassmen with supplemental housing contracts.

With another large freshman class, many upperclassmen wouldn't be allowed to live on campus, and the Department of Housing and Food Services would take similar steps as it did this year to accommodate students, said Kathy Krinks, assistant director of housing.

"We took steps to make sure everybody had a room this year," she said.

"If we needed to, we would take the same steps next year," Krinks added.