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Fall rise in enrollment bring diversity to TWU

TWU’s 2018 fall semester brings with it a larger and more diverse student body. The university has reported a rise in preliminary fall enrollment numbers over last year with enrollment having risen “0.3 percent to 15,526 students,” according to a TWU news release. A significant portion of the increase comes from graduate students, whose enrollment numbers rose 12 percent over last year, and Hispanic students, of which enrollment rose 3.7 percent overall.

Vice president for Enrollment Management Randall Langston attributes the increase in part to recent local growth.

“As the state’s demographics change, so, too, does TWU’s,” Langston said.

Langston stresses that TWU is working not only to continue to attract a more diverse student body but is committed to offering services which are aimed at ensuring the success of students from all backgrounds.

“Those are conversations that we’re having every day on campus,” Langston said. “We believe very strongly in that. It’s part of our DNA as an institution, and we see it reflected very well in each year’s increases in minority and ethnic representations here on campus.”

Assistant Vice President of University Communications Matt Flores emphasizes the university’s efforts to provide resources to incoming students.

“We are laser-focused on creating an environment that’s really supportive to our students to make them succeed,” Flores said. “It’s one thing to just admit them, and it’s quite another to make sure they have the tools necessary to get them all the way to graduation.”

Minority students currently make up 55 percent of TWU’s student body, with Hispanic students accounting for 26 percent of the student population. TWU is a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a title which, apart from speaking to the diversity on campus, offers real benefits to students.

Services available to students of HSIs include national paid internships, scholarships and annual networking conferences, according to the HSI website.

“What’s important here is the fact that there’s an opportunity for them that might not otherwise have existed had TWU not been an HSI,” Flores said.

More information on HSI benefits is available here, and scholarship application information is available through the Financial Aid office.

Langston anticipates that enrollment numbers will continue to rise in the coming years, as will student diversity.

“We hope to be over 17,000 by 2022 in terms of our overall enrollment,” Langston said. “With that, we fully expect that our ethnic and minority populations will continue to rise.”

Fall 2018 enrollment numbers are not final and need to be certified by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

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