Some Texas colleges boast new growth
Enrollment is up, particularly among historically underrepresented groups
Some Texas colleges are seeing increases in enrollment particularly among underrepresented groups and despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
The University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas A&M, Rice University, Houston Baptist universities, and the University of Texas at Austin all welcomed more students than last year, according to the colleges preliminary reports.
UT-Austin boasted its largest incoming class, with 9,060 first-time freshmen — a 7 percent increase from last year. Overall enrollment at UT also increased by 3 percent with 51,992 students — close to its all-time high of 52,261 in 2002, according to a news release.
Texas A&M’s enrollment increased by about 2.6 percent with 72,982 students on its first day of classes.
Rice saw an 8 percent increase in its overall enrollment and nearly a 5 percent increase in undergraduate students.
St. Thomas also welcomed its largest freshman cohort, with more than 380 students and, like other colleges, emphasized its diversity and inclusion within the student base.
Of St. Thomas’ incoming students, 64 percent are Hispanic or Latino, further cementing the private Catholic school as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Around 11 percent are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 17 percent Caucasian, and nearly 10 percent Black, university officials said.
UT noted an increase of first-generation students by roughly 3 percent, which makes this population around 23 percent of all undergraduates. The university also enrolled more Hispanic students than last year, reaching 27.1 percent Hispanic undergraduate enrollment, and increased its international population by 13 percent, university data shows.
And while diversity has seemingly been at the forefront, the number of white students attending Texas colleges has decreased.
At UT, the number of white undergraduates dropped by 2 percentage points — from 37.3 percent to 35.1 percent this year. Rice saw its white graduate student population decrease by around 3 percent, while nearly every other population saw more students.
At Houston Community College, where Black and Hispanic or Latinx students enrolled at consistent rates, the white student population decreased around 8 percent. And at Prairie View A&M University, where enrollment grew by 1.5 per
cent, its white population decreased by 8 percent.
Daniel Villanueva, a higher ed scholar and practitioner, said the decline in white students at Texas institutions could be because many come from socioeconomic backgrounds that allow them to be more mobile and flexible in their college choices, whereas students from underrepresented communities might be more committed to familial responsibilities and jobs where they live and thus, choose to stay closer to home.
Villanueva is vice president of enrollment and management at the University of Houston-Downtown, and said UHD’s population is also slowly but surely becoming more Hispanic and less white. At UHD, the Hispanic and Latinx population grew 1 percent over the past year and 7 percent since 2019, while the white population decreased by 9 percent since last fall alone.
Similarly, Houston Baptist University, which had its highest record of overall and freshman enrollment, saw a surge in Hispanic and Black students this fall, but a decrease in white students.
“We see that more white students have options to go out-of-state and that more out-of-state institutions that are right around Texas offer in-state tuition waivers for students,” Villanueva said. “And so as white students navigate higher ed, they’re not only looking at the landscape exclusive to Texas but nationwide.”
While this trend is more specific to Texas, the trend of increasing diversity — particularly among Hispanic and female students — is happening nationwide, Villanueva said.
Prairie View A&M data also showed that students are pursuing post-baccalaureate certificates and doctoral degrees at higher percentages this year, but that the number of sophomore students enrolled declined by about 5 percent. The number of applicants and those admitted also decreased by more than 13 percent compared to last fall.
For other colleges, enrollment stayed flat or decreased only slightly.
Preliminary numbers at the University of Houston showed that its student population largely stayed the same, decreasing by just 70 students. Lone Star College’s student population decreased by less than 1 percent.
HCC experienced a 2 percent decrease in overall enrollment — a positive sign considering enrollment dropped a whopping 17 percent last fall, said Shantay Grays, vice chancellor for student services.
The community college system has seen increases in other areas, including a 6 percent increase in new students and a 3 percent rise in enrollment in its continuing education program, which hosts short-term training.
“We attribute that the anticipation of reopening and allowing students to access those skilled labs that they need,” she said. And returning students have also enrolled at a higher rate, she said.
But HCC is not letting its guard up.
The college’s dual credit enrollment program decreased 10 percent since last fall, a dip officials attribute to learning loss and some of the difficulties Houston ISD has had engaging and accounting for its students.
Though it’s difficult to pinpoint all of the challenges that students might face, HCC has hired 45 admissions advisers as staff who will be embedded in high schools in areas HCC services, Grays said. Staff will help facilitate enrollment for dual-credit programs and engage previous students they might have lost during the pandemic.