Preliminary enrollment at 32K

Enrollment as of census day, Sept. 8, at the university totals 32,149 students, according to UTRGV officials.

Census day is considered the 12th class day. It is when the university starts finalizing data for the total number of students enrolled, which eventually will get reported to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Associate Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Griselda Castilla said census day is the first phase of
finalizing enrollment.

“Any student that was enrolled as of census day, and we knew funds were still on their way, they’re trying to finalize a loan or their financial aid application,” Castilla said. “So, students actually have until the 20th class day. After Monday, then we will start finalizing our official enrollment numbers that go to the state. So, it’s only those students that were enrolled as of census date and are still pending to get something done to clear their balance. So, we’re almost final, but not yet. Really, we start doing our cleanup report maybe by late September, early October.”

As of last Wednesday, there were 26,859 undergraduate, 5,068 graduate and 222 school of medicine students.

The breakdown for the undergraduate classifications are 5,975 overall freshmen, not including incoming freshmen; 4,884 sophomores; 6,832 juniors; 8,762 seniors and 406 students working toward their second bachelor’s degree.

For the graduate college, 425 students are pursuing a doctoral degree, 4,593 a master’s and 50 are working on a second master’s degree or post-master’s.

“So, the numbers fluctuate from the time that we start doing our enrollment,” Castilla said. “Compared to the start of the semester, we’re fairly close. When we started this semester on Aug. 23 we were at 32,573. As of today, we’re at 32,149. So, it’s a slight decrease from the start of the semester, not a lot but, but there are a few students that have changed their mind in continuing their enrollment.”

Castilla said the graduate college started with 5,145 and numbers decreased to 5,068. She said it is normal to see this drop because students may have registered early in March and since then work or personal matters may have come up.

“The difference between the first class day enrollment and where we’re at now, there is a decrease but it’s minor and we do see that occur,” she said.

Castilla said she is optimistic about the university’s enrollment. 

“Our students, they’re all super excited to be back on campus and we’re all super excited to see people on our campus,” she said. “We’re very optimistic about our overall enrollment and the opportunities that our students are taking to continue their education, despite all the hardship that they had to deal with this past year, not just in the classroom but also in their personal lives and just a whole transition of the course modalities.”

To help increase enrollment, Castilla said the UTRGV recruitment team continues to serve all of UTRGV’s  high school partners in the Rio Grande Valley and throughout the state, as well as the international students.

She said UTRGV will guide them through the admissions, financial aid and the scholarship processes to ensure that they are ready to get started on their education.

“For our continuing students, of course, we always encourage all of our students to do their financial aid application, especially since a lot of families encountered financial hardship this past year,” Castilla said. “We encourage them to one, submit their FAFSA and not assume that they are not eligible, and two, that if their income changes to ensure that they meet with someone in our financial aid office. We had so many different programs to support our students from our cash grants that were funded by the [Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund] that UTRGV received, and then we also had our Fall Liftoff program. So, as an institution, we know that our students and their families continue to face challenges so we’re always looking for programs to implement to ensure that they continue.”

She said the university will continue to develop programs and services because it is not just giving the students money but also ensuring that UTRGV has the support services on campus.

“We are actually preparing for our next academic year, which is Fall 22’, Spring 23’ so announcements should be coming soon as far as any new programs that we are developing for that recruiting year,” Castilla said. “Bringing in new students is one part of our jobs but ensuring that we take care of our students that are already here is also a significant part of our job.”

She said students should be on the lookout for opportunities that are available to them through their UTRGV email.

“So as we develop new programs, either from the HEERF monies or institutional monies from financial aid or scholarships, that is one of the means of communication that we have with our students,” Castilla said. “We know that the impact of COVID-19 will continue to impact our students and their families. So, as an institution, we will continue to look for different financial assistance to provide to them, as well as on-campus services that we can make available to them to ensure that they don’t pause.”

Mia Deaton, a marketing sophomore, said her experience on the UTRGV campus has been fun.

“I like the interaction between my professors and I,” Deaton said. “It’s not just through a screen, so it makes it more interesting and easier to pay attention.”

She is taking five classes. Two are hybrid and the rest are in person.

Asked if she thought enrollment would increase, Deaton replied, “Well, I think more people are starting to accept that school isn’t for everyone. …  So, I think it will fluctuate. Maybe not like a big huge number but slowly. Because of what I’ve grown up with throughout school, like in elementary, middle school, high school, is that without school you’re nothing, but I think a lot of people are realizing that that’s not true, that you can be successful without school as well.”

She said for the university to be able to increase enrollment numbers, they should offer more programs and or majors.

Ana Urbina, a marketing sophomore, is taking two in-person and four asynchronous classes.

She said the university has a lot of things to offer students but believes it should market more of it to increase enrollment numbers.

Brianna Cuevas, a social work junior, said coming back to school is an interesting experience to get used to again.

Cuevas said all her classes are in person but will switch to online soon.

She predicts that enrollment numbers for UTRGV will increase within two years.