TAMIU Fall Enrollment Grows 13.1% to Historic 5,858

Texas A&M International University has set a historic first this Fall: enrollment has grown to 5,858 students enrolled, an increase over last Fall of 13.1% . Last Fall’s enrollment was 5,188.

Semester Credit Hours (SCH), upon which crucial State funding is based, has also grown 10.8% to 57,716 over last Fall’s 52,176.

The University’s final enrollment figures are pending final certification by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, but bodes well for the University, said TAMIU president Ray Keck.
Dr. Keck attributed the increase to a number of factors.

“First and foremost, we have implemented aggressive programs like our First Year Experience, Campus Reading Program and Learning Communities, all of which have helped to boost our freshman retention rate to 71%. Statewide, the average retention rate is 74%.

“Additionally, the advent of HB 1 has brought 344 high school students to campus on a part-time basis. These programs, coupled with dynamic and aggressively linked recruiting and marketing campaigns and tireless staff efforts have resulted in an extremely healthy enrollment increase,” Keck explained.

This semester at TAMIU, undergraduate students number 4,796 or 82% of students, while graduate students number 1,032 or 17.6% of students.

Keck provided additional information on the Fall 2008 class:

The College with the highest enrollment is the College of Arts and Sciences with 2,854 students.
The most popular undergraduate majors are early childhood education, business administration, criminal justice, nursing and biology.

The most popular graduate majors are business administration, educational administration, information systems, school counseling and curriculum and instruction.

The overall average student age is 23 with undergraduates averaging 22 and graduates 31. The doctoral student population numbers 20 students, who average 35 years of age. The University's youngest student is 13 and its oldest 75. The student/teacher ratio is 20:1 and undergraduate class sizes average 30 students.

Female students outnumber males 3,599 (61.4%) to 2,259 (38.5%) and 90 percent of all students identify themselves as minority, including Hispanic, African-American, Asian and Other. Slightly over 54 percent of students are full-time, while 46 percent are part-time.

While 94% of students come to the University from Texas, over four percent are foreign. This Fall, these international students come to TAMIU from 23 different countries.

Registration for Spring Semester 2009 begins Monday, Nov. 3. Classes start Monday, Jan. 12. For additional information, click on Uonline at tamiu.edu

For additional information, please contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 326.2180.

University office hours are from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday.

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