(College Station)—Texas A&M University's 2005 fall enrollment of 44,647 includes, for the second consecutive year, double-digit gains in enrollment of minority freshmen –African Americans, Hispanics and Asians-Americans - according to unofficial first-class day enrollment figures released Aug. 31.
Hispanic students in the freshman class have for the first time exceeded
1,000 - now standing at 1,012, an increase of 15 percent compared to last
fall. African-American freshmen total 259, for a gain of 19 percent, and
entering Asian-American students total 331, up 20 percent.
More than 20,000 applications for admission at the freshman level were received
this year, of which more than 6,800 of the applicants are enrolled—an
acceptance ratio of approximately one in three. In addition, approximately
28 percent of the students in the freshman class are the first in their families
to attend college, and half of the freshman class is comprised of students
who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates said the "gratifying gains" in
minority students at the entering freshman level are the "result of
hard work by the entire 'Aggie family'- administrators, faculty, staff,
regents, current students and former students, with the latter certainly
including alumni who are members of the Texas A&M Hispanic Network
and the Black Former Students Network."
"We are committed to continuing our efforts to enhance the diverse educational
experience for all Aggies," Gates added.
In addition to, and complementing, the concerted personalized efforts
by university faculty and staff and alumni volunteers, Gates said the gains
can be attributed in part to the availability of hundreds of new scholarships,
with 600 of them - Regents Scholarship - exclusively for first-generation
college students from families with annual incomes of $40,000 or less.
Also, he pointed out, the university is starting to reap more fully the benefits
of its new regional prospective student centers in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth,
San Antonio, Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley - facilities that are
staffed on site by admissions and financial aid representatives.
The preliminary figures normally change slightly during the period leading up to reporting unofficial numbers to the Higher Education Coordinating Board after the 12th class day, university officials note. The enrollment figures do not become official until they are certified after the 20th class day.