Colleges mixed on enrollment
While some are reaching record numbers, others in this area are seeing steep declines
Experts anticipated that the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would plague colleges with enrollment declines, but Texas campuses are showing mixed results.
The University of St. Thomas and the University of Houston both reached record enrollments. Texas Southern University and Houston Community College, on the other hand, saw steep enrollment declines of 22 and 17 percent, respectively, according to preliminary data. International and first-year students led the declines at several Texas campuses.
“It’snotwherewe’d like to be,” said Kurt Ewen, HCC’s vice chancellor of strategy, planning and institutional effectiveness. “And it precedes significant conversations of what we need to do next.”
HCC’s numbers might improve some as students enroll for fall sessions that start later this year, but the drop in enrollment will still be hard to overcome, Ewen said. He added that experts’ suggestions that people will seek out community colleges to reskill or upskill or that students might opt to stay closer to home, save money and enroll in a community college has not come to fruition for HCC, he added.
“In this environment, it’s not just a recession. It’s part of a pandemic, and it hit people incredibly hard,” said Ewen, adding that many HCC students are minorities and from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds, groups that have suffered the most during coronavirus. “The need for
(students) to go back to school hasn’t caught up with them yet.”
“We’re still trying to figure outwhat itmeans for us long term.”
Texas Southern University also showed a 22 percent decrease in enrollment, according to a university spokeswoman. Though the official enrollment numbers won’t be available until mid-October, the preliminary numbers show the sharpest decline of any institution in the Houston area.
Some studentswhowere set to attend TSU have chosen gap years or to go to institutions closer to home, including community colleges, Teresa McKinney, TSU’s vice president of student services, said. Anecdotally, officials have heard that financial issues, like students’ parents losing jobs, and travel-related issues, like closed embassies for international students, have also impacted students’ decisions, McKinney said.
“It all goes back to COVID-19,” saidMcKinney, emphasizing that enrollment has been consistent previous to the pandemic. “We definitely want our fellow Tigers to choose the decision that’s best for them.”
Enrollment at many Texas four-year institutions improved. The University of Houston-Victoria, for example, enrolled nearly 5,000 students this fall — a 9.2 percent increase from last year.
Jose Cantu, vice president for enrollment management, credited the campus’ continued growth on improvements that included new housing, personalized support services and existing online course that made the transition to online and hybrid learning seamless.
“We want to make sure the student has a good experience at the forefront and that’s enabled students to feel comfortable,” Cantu said.
UH-Dowtown, Houston’s second largest university behind the flagship University of Houston, reported 15,251 students and touted its largest freshman class in history with around 1,500 students. UH also experienced record enrollment, with 47,101 students — a 2.1 percent increase from fall 2019 — at its main campus. The biggest increase was among graduate students.
University of St. Thomas in Houston saw a 7.5 percent overall increase, with record total undergraduate enrollment increased by 18.4 percent, according to officials.
Undergraduate enrollment, however, took a hit, with a 7.7 percent decrease in first-time college students — a stat that indicates freshmen might be more hesitant to commit to their original college plans during the pandemic compared to transfer or graduate students, RichardWalker, UH’s vice president of student affairs and enrollment services, said in a written statement.
Texas A&M University in College Station saw a 2.3 percent increase in its enrollment, with 65,684 students in total, and a 20 percent boost in transfer students, according to a release.
International student enrollment at the research university, however, decreased by roughly 13 percent this fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting traveling restrictions — a trend also evident at the University of Texas at Austin.
At UT-Austin, international student enrollment dropped by 18 percent, which officials said affected total enrollment and undergraduate enrollment, which decreased by 1.2 percent and less than 1 percent respectively, according to a release.
Like several Texas schools, UT admitted its largest and most diverse freshman class, with 5,000 Black undergraduate students — the greatest number admitted in the school’s history. Of its 8,459 new first-time students — 6.1 percent identify as Black, nearly 29 percent who identify as Hispanic, and 25.5 percent are first generation. Additionally, the flagship now qualifies as a Hispanic Serving Institution, with more than 26 percent of its undergraduate population identifying as Hispanic.
UT President Jay Hartzell said in a written statement that he was “gratified” to see Black and Hispanic students choosing the university at a higher rate than before.
“These are encouraging signs — but there is clearly more work to do,” Hartzell said.