For the third consecutive year, the University of Montana has enrolled a record number of students, this time surpassing 15,000.

UM announced Monday that its fall semester student headcount is 15,642, which is 721 more students than a year ago.

That's the largest yearly spike in enrollment at Missoula's main campus and the UM College of Technology in the past two decades.

"It's the largest one-year increase I've seen since I've been here," said President George Dennison.

Somewhat surprisingly, UM's main campus saw slightly larger increases than the COT. Last year, with the economy down and local mills closing, laid-off workers returned to school for retraining at the COT at a higher rate than the main campus. This year, it appears full-time resident undergraduate students at the main campus produced the big enrollment jump.

That's not to say the economy isn't a big factor in the enrollment increases, Dennison said.

There are also a record number of UM students taking full class loads this semester, at 13,367 - an increase of 365 resident students and 153 nonresidents over last fall.