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Texas A&M Shows 1.1 Percent Enrollment Increase For Fall 2018, Moves Closer To HSI Designation

Texas A&M reported 69,367 students enrolled on the 20th class day.
By Texas A&M University Office of the Provost Staff October 8, 2018

Texas A&M University has announced fall 2018 enrollment numbers, showing growth of 1.1 percent.

As of the 20th class day, the official reporting date for the legislature and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas A&M enrolled 69,367 students. The increase over last year’s fall enrollment comes despite a decrease of 4 percent in this year’s freshmen class (10,757), highlighting the university’s intention to manage growth.

The total enrollment reflects 64,126 enrolled in degree programs at the legacy campus in College Station, and 1,815 and 549 students enrolled in programs at branch campuses in Galveston and Doha, Qatar, respectively. An additional 2,877 students are enrolled in programs within the colleges and schools of the University’s Health Science Center throughout the state. The new Higher Education Center at McAllen opened in earnest this fall, with 198 students pursuing study in one graduate and five undergraduate degree programs.

Hispanic undergraduate student enrollment climbed to a record of 12,998, or roughly 24 percent of total undergraduate enrollment, moving Texas A&M closer to the 25 percent threshold that allows designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Achieving designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution not only speaks to our legacy of service to the populations of Texas, as our mission dictates, but opens opportunity for federal grant and aid program competitiveness for our faculty,” Provost and Executive Vice President Dr. Carol A. Fierke said. “We have a stated goal to serve the best interest of our state; this must include the students from Hispanic, African- American and Native American families, as well as urban, suburban and rural communities. We are also developing programs to enhance support of all students, with the goal of increasing retention and graduation rates.”

Fall 2018 data shows Texas A&M is achieving its mission as a leading public, land-grant institution by maintaining accessibility for students across the ethnic and socioeconomic demographics of Texas, say university officials. This commitment is reflected in increased enrollment in both raw numbers and the percentage of total enrollment for students identifying as Hispanic, Asian and multi-racial, while international students topped 6,000 for the first time.

Students identifying as African-American dipped slightly to 2,405, only slightly off of the all-time high in 2017 of 2,508 with the percentage of African-American students at 3.5 percent of total enrolled students.


 

Media contact: Lesley Henton, lshenton@tamu.edu.

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