Spring enrollment up

Brigitte Ortiz | THE RIDER

This semester, enrollment numbers have increased from last spring amid the COVID-19 pandemic. UTRGV’s preliminary numbers, as of Jan. 11, the first class day, show 30,147 students attending the university.

Of these, 24,384 are undergraduates, 5,542 are graduate students and 221 are medical students. 

There are 3,560 freshmen, 4,783 sophomores, 6,450 juniors and 9,136 seniors. On average, students are enrolled in 12.5 credit hours. 

In Spring 2020, enrollment was 27,316.

Magdalena “Maggie” Hinojosa, senior vice president for Strategic Enrollment and Student Affairs, said spring numbers are always lower than fall.

In Fall 2020, 32,441 students were enrolled at UTRGV. 

“So, what you really want to do is compare spring to spring, not necessarily fall to spring,” Hinojosa said. “And so, it is a decrease from fall, which is expected. That’s what always happens, but it is an increase from last spring.” 

She said UTRGV is currently teaching 17.6% of classes in the traditional, in-person format, 15.5% hybrid, 34.6% asynchronous and 32.2% synchronous. Hybrid classes are taught both online and in person. Asynchronous classes are conducted completely online, and synchronous classes have scheduled meeting times online.

Asked what the university is doing to continue growing enrollment numbers, Hinojosa replied that they will continue with programs such as the Tuition Advantage grant, which covers the cost of tuition and mandatory fees for students with a family income of $95,000 or less. 

“Something that we have maintained … is our four-year guarantee rate at the undergraduate level, that when students start with us, their tuition does not increase for four years,” she said. “Of course, we also have the addition of CARES funding and distribute the money to students from that and then this past summer we did a summer relief program for our students. So, you know, we’ve done quite a bit, from increasing current programs to the addition of programs.”

CARES stands for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. It is a $2.2 trillion federal stimulus bill meant to alleviate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Treasury Department.

Hinojosa said she wants to wish students the best of luck this semester. And, of course, any issues they have, Tim make sure that they, you know, reach out to us because we’re here to help.

Parwinder Grewal, executive vice president of Research, Graduate Studies and New Program Development and dean of the Graduate College, said enrollment numbers for the Graduate College increased 48% from last spring semester.

In the last two years, several new programs have been added to the Graduate College. The on-campus programs include a master’s in business analytics, applied statistics and data science, biochemistry and molecular biology. 

New accelerated online format classes include global commerce, criminal justice, kinesiology, engineering management (offered on campus as well) and teacher leadership.

 “We have added a 63-hour master’s in social work program for students who do not have a background; that means an undergraduate degree in social work,” Grewal said. “So students with other degrees, if they want to, you know, enter into the social work area, because there are many jobs in that, they can now do a longer master’s so they can succeed as well.”

 He said the Graduate College is in the process of developing four new master’s programs that will be added by the upcoming fall and spring semesters. 

“One of them will be [a] master’s in pharmaceutical science, the other one would be [a] master’s in medical science,” Grewal said. “Both these programs are coming out of the school of medicine. Then we are adding a master’s in art education to prepare people for teaching art. Then we are also adding UX and UI (User Experience and User Interface Design) as master’s programs, so this is an interdisciplinary program.”

He said a doctorate in mathematics and statistics with interdisciplinary application has been approved and it will start in Fall 2021. 

“Then the next program that is undergoing review is Ph.D. in physics,” Grewal said. “Then we will have another program in human genetics. Both of these programs will start by spring.” 

The UTRGV Graduate College is also working on two more programs, cellular, molecular and biomedical sciences.

“Another one we can add is material science and engineering,” Grewal said. “So both of those programs are at early stages at this time. They both have received, what we call, planning authority. That means the university is now allowed to develop a full program proposed.”

Two new professional doctorate programs in pharmacy and physical therapy will also be added in the coming semesters.

  Asked what the Graduate College is doing to grow enrollment numbers, Grewal said they have made a promise that every new student who joins their master’s programs, if they are admitted unconditionally, will receive a $1,000 dean’s scholarship.

“On the top of that, during the pandemic, we have done two more major things,” he said. “One, we waived the GRE and GMAT requirement for all our programs until this summer. Even from the fall we will continue the waiver, except one or two programs that have opted out. They will require the GRE and GMAT. Those would be MBA (master’s in business administration) … and, I believe, master’s in physics. Others still are waived for the fall.” 

Grewal said they are excited about the response they are receiving from students and are focusing more on creating student retention opportunities. 

“We have added a very comprehensive orientation program, in which we highlight all the different services that we provide, new and existing services so that students know up in front,” he said. “We have a better Grad Central Program, just like U Central … that offers many services, financial aid. You can text graduate college, you can email, you can have phone calls and our staff works long hours, including weekends, to help students answer their questions and, you know, succeed.”