TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FALL 2004 ENROLLMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 16, 2004
CONTACT: Sally Logue Post, sally.post@ttu.edu

LUBBOCK – Fall 2004 preliminary enrollment numbers show that Texas Tech University students are taking a record number of credit hours this semester, fulfilling a goal of Texas Tech President Jon Whitmore.

Whitmore is applauding the success of the university’s new Graduate On Time initiative. The effort is part of Texas Tech’s commitment to help students to graduate in a timely manner and move into the workforce sooner.

“Our Graduate on Time contract is offered to entering freshman students,” said Whitmore. “While the students will not sign the voluntary contract before they register for the Spring 2005 semester, we are already seeing an increase in the average number of credit hours taken by students.”

The number of credit hours taught overall increased to 361,918 as of the 12th class day for this semester as compared to 359,863 the final count for Fall 2003.

The increase in credit hours is vital for Texas Tech in that state funding for the academic enterprise of a university is based largely on the number of credit hours a university’s students are taking.

Preliminary numbers for the Fall 2004 semester show 28,483 students enrolled as of the 12th class day compared to 28,549 for a final enrollment for the Fall 2003 semester.

“We had anticipated that our enrollment growth would be smaller this year,” said Whitmore. “During the past few years, Texas Tech has experienced a phenomenal increase in enrollment. It would be difficult for any institution to maintain that level of growth. Texas Tech needs time to catch up to that explosive growth and concentrate on quality growth. We are in the process of hiring 40 new faculty members with a three-year goal of 100 new faculty, and we are updating our laboratories and our classrooms.”

Over the past few years, Texas Tech has experienced tremendous growth. In 2000, enrollment stood at 24,558, and the number of semester credit hours taught was 310,112.

“Texas Tech has come a long way in a short time,” said Whitmore. “We owe it to our students to concentrate on improving the quality of the academic experience we offer to them.”

The number of graduate students enrolled for the Fall 2004 semester shows an increase to 4,344. That exceeds the record set in the Fall 2003 of 4,282 students.

Texas Tech continues to show an increase in SAT scores for incoming freshman students. This fall’s freshman class SAT average is 1125, another record for the university. The SAT average last fall was 1123, which was an 11 point gain over Fall 2002.

Enrollment is official on the 20th class day. Students who are enrolled as of the 12th class day are required to have paid a significant portion of their tuition and fees by the 20th class day in order to be counted for the official enrollment.

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CONTACT: Stephanie Hays, associate vice president for enrollment management at (806) 742-7025.