University Reports Highest Enrollment in History

Texas A&M International University will officially report its highest enrollment to date to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment is 3,424, up an astounding 12.7% from the same time last Fall, when enrollment was 3,038.

Semester credit hours, upon which State funding is based, grew 15.4% from 28,472 last Fall to 32,856 for Fall 2001. The total population is divided into 2,644 undergraduate and 780 graduate students.

President Ray Keck shared the 20th class day figures that will be reported to the Coordinating Board with an audience that he said played a pivotal role in making the elevated enrollment possible: local and area high school counselors attending the University's Counselor's Update Friday.

"Thanks to a powerful partnership between our Office of Enrollment Management and our high school counselors, more local and regional students are exploring higher education and its accessibility here at A&M International," Dr. Keck said.

Keck said the mood at the University is upbeat and the entire University community is heartened by the high enrollment response.

"There's no denying we've worked very hard to do this, but it's gratifying to know that the importance of higher education to our community and region is shared by so many," Keck said.

He said that the enrollment is especially relevant to the University's State funding and projected goals to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's "Closing the Gaps" program.

"We've met and exceeded our projections on every measurable provided to the Coordinating Board. This speaks highly not only to our commitment to the Coordinating Board, but to our commitment to our students," Keck said.

"Closing the Gaps," is the THECB's higher education plan adopted in October 2000. The plan establishes benchmarks and measurables for four goals : closing the gap in student participation in higher education: closing the gap in student success, closing the gap in quality academic institutions, and closing the gap in research efforts.

Keck said the University's efforts were tied to its message of helping students to "Go Further," the University's marketing approach used this Fall.

"All of our efforts were tied to helping our students 'Go Further' and included hiring a dedicated executive director of enrollment management, a regular presence on campuses, partnerships with local educators and counselors, aggressive advertising, a strong articulation program with Laredo Community College and a LCC campus presence, a popular student orientation and campus tour program, expansion of student services and expanded recruitment center hours and volunteer phone bank programs. We've worked hard to bring these students here and now we'll work harder to help them complete their degree program here," he said.

He noted some interesting perspectives on this Fall's enrollment:

The College of Arts and Humanities has the highest undergraduate enrollment, with 964 students, and the College of Business Administration the second highest, with 722. The College of Education has the highest graduate enrollment with 343 students.

The Top Three most popular majors per college are:

College of Arts and Humanities: Criminal Justice, Psychology and Political Science.

College of Business Administration: Accounting, Business Administration and Computer Information Systems.

College of Education - Early Childhood, Early Childhood/Bilingual and Bilingual Education.

College of Science and Technology - Nursing, Biology and Mathematics.

The average age of all undergraduate students is 25, while the average age of graduate students is 32.

The average number of hours enrolled in by students is 9.6 hours.

The University's oldest student is 76 and its youngest, 15.

The percentage of female to male students is 61.7% to 38.3%, or 1312 for males and 2112 for females.

Minority students, Hispanic, African-American, Asian and Other, comprise 89.2% of the total student population which includes 23 countries.

International students comprise 14.4% of the graduate student population and 3% of the undergraduate population.

Of special interest, 46.5% of students that seek graduate degrees hold undergraduate degrees from A&M International.

For additional information on enrollment at A&M International, contact the Office of Enrollment Management at 326.2278, visit offices in Killam Library 161, or email to enroll@tamiu.edu.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu