Spring enrollment at Texas A&M University-Commerce has risen 2.8 percent since last year, bringing the number of students to 8,577, according to official figures released Tuesday.
The 2007 figures are based upon 20th-day class enrollment numbers tabulated by the Registrars office. The boost is equivalent to 199 more students this spring over last spring.
A&M-Commerce president Dr. Keith McFarland has voiced his desire for the university to facilitate 10,000 students in the near future. Dr. Yvette Underdue-Murph, vice president for enrollment management, said the university is making progress toward its goals for the future.
“I truly believe that we can make 10,000 [students] by 2009,” Murph said. “If we continue with our efforts in utilizing a statistic driven enrollment management strategy-it is achievable.”
Students are taking 83, 930 credit hours, up about two percent from last year’s total. The biggest increase was freshman enrollment with an 18 percent hike. Last year, freshman enrollment declined 6.31 percent from 2005, but now holds steady at 878 students-the highest in two years.
Every classification with the exception of seniors saw significant increases.
Murph, hired a year ago from the University of LaVerne to combat the enrollment decline, attributes the turnaround to statistical enrollment driven initiatives set up in the fall.
Preliminary statistics show advances in admissions and applications for next fall. Murph said at this time last year there were only 199 students admitted for the fall and 838 applications were received. This semester the number has jumped to 575 admissions and 1575 applications.
“I am pleased with our progress,” Murph said. “The strategies we are using are demonstrated in these numbers.”
Editor’s note: Part 2 of this article explaining initiatives used by Enrollment Management will appear next week.