Mary,
You might consider using the COUNTA function to be useful in this case, which counts all non-blank cells in a range.
Example: If your report's field headers are in row 1, and your report displays 30 students (occupying rows 2 through 31), then in cell A32 enter the formula =COUNTA(A2:A31). Assuming column A is a field in your report that contains one piece of data on every student and would never be blank (such as "Last Name"), then this formula would produce the number 30 in cell A32.
One tip, someone looking at the report would just see the number 30 and wonder "30 of what?". Answer that question ahead of time by nesting the COUNTA function in a concatenated formula in cell A32 as follows:
=CONCATENATE(COUNTA(A2:A31)&" students in this course"). Note the space in between the first quote mark and the word students, which allows for better readability.
Let me know if this helps, or if you are looking for something more.
Tom Urtis
Tom,
Yes - that works great! Thanks much for the help. Mary