University Star

Texas State welcomed a record-high number of students this fall for the 15th consecutive year.

According to Institutional Research, there are 34,229 students enrolled at Texas State—a 0.4 percent increase from last fall.  Of the total number of students, 29,461 are undergraduates. This figure is a 1.7 percent increase from last fall.

Approximately 21,500 potential freshmen applied for the fall semester, 11.5 percent more than last fall. About 12,400 of those who applied were admitted and about 4,200 enrolled, making this Texas State’s second largest freshman class to date. Last year’s freshman class of 4,400 students was the university’s largest to date.

Michael Heintze, associate vice president for enrollment management, said these are preliminary enrollment figures. However, they will not vary greatly from the numbers to be verified by institutional research and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in the weeks to come.
Provost Eugene Bourgeois said the university has been working on accommodating the growing number of students on campus.

Last fall, the university asked academic departments to monitor students’ class schedules during the semester. During the spring semester, the university followed up on those requests. When advanced registration and summer sessions began, departments were asked to review schedules and current enrollment data to determine whether additional sections of courses were needed.

Bourgeois said he communicated with academic chairs, directors and deans to see if there was a need to hire additional instructors. Bourgeois said although the university is still under a flexible hiring freeze, he is allowed to authorize faculty hires if necessary.

“If there is an enrollment demand that materializes in a particular discipline, a set of courses or a programmatic area, and that chair requests additional support, the provost’s office will transfer additional funds to allow them to hire those additional faculty members,” Bourgeois said.

General education courses experienced the biggest impact from the enrollment increase because of the growing freshman and sophomore populations, Bourgeois said.

University College saw the largest influx in undergraduate students with an 11.5 percent increase. The College of Science and Engineering experienced the second highest increase, with enrollment up 8.7 percent from last fall. The College of Health Professions saw an 8.3 percent enrollment increase.

Robert Habingreither, associate dean of academic affairs for the College of Science and Engineering, said the need for graduates in the science and engineering fields is driving up enrollment.

Barbara Sanders, associate dean of the College of Health Professions, said the recent accreditation of the nursing program this summer is contributing to the increase in students.

“The good news is we have a lot of interest and well-qualified students,” Sanders said. “The bad news is we can’t meet the demand of enrollment in our professional programs.”

Recent statistics showing the demand for workers in the health professions industry is an additional contributing factor to the increase, she said.

Bourgeois said the academic year is off to a good start.

“Everyone in the administration is looking forward to doing what we can to ensure student success,” Bourgeois said. “And that includes accommodating these greater and greater numbers of students.”