The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s student enrollment has increased about 3.6 percent from the 2016-17 academic term. Last year, the university had a retention rate of 80 percent. This year, the rate is trending at 81.6 percent. THE RIDER FILE PHOTO
Preliminary numbers show 28,588 students are expected to attend classes this fall at UTRGV, an increase over last fall, officials say.
The university’s latest student population numbers show 25,416 undergraduates, 3,071 graduate students and 101 students enrolled in UTRGV’s School of Medicine. An additional 350 students are part of the university through programs such as the Mathematics and Science Academy, Brownsville Early College High School and high school dual-enrollment courses.
The 25,000 undergraduate students can be broken down in several ways. It is especially true for incoming freshmen.
“The entering freshman class is a variety of students,” said Maggie Hinojosa, the university’s vice president for Strategic Enrollment. “They can be a freshman, a sophomore or a junior depending on how many hours they come in with.”
It complicates the process of counting freshmen.
“We expect to have our largest freshman class for UTRGV,” Hinojosa said. “So, right now our entering freshman class is at 4,547.”
The undergraduate enrollment rate is up by 4 percent. Similarly, freshman admissions are up by 8 percent. So far, the most popular freshman class major is nursing, followed by biology. Out of the undergraduate population, 5,176 are sophomores, 6,273 students are juniors and 8,071 are seniors.
Student enrollment increased about 3.6 percent from the 2016-17 academic year. Around 17,000 are taking classes in Edinburg and online. About 5,000 are in Brownsville and online. However, an estimated 1,000 students will take only online courses to get their undergraduate degrees.
The university’s retention rate is also improving. Last year, the university was at 80 percent. This year, the rate is trending at 81.6 percent.
By comparison, legacy campuses University of Texas-Pan American and University of Texas at Brownsville had second-year retention rates in the 60s.
“This is going to be the first time that we have a second-year retention rate ’cause we’re starting our third year. Right now, we’re at 71.4 percent,” Hinojosa said.
Student housing numbers also remain stable. The preliminary number for the dorms this year is around 900. An estimated 300 will reside in Brownsville on-campus housing and 600 will reside in Edinburg this fall semester.
