SWT records second-highest spring enrollment ever

Date of release: 02/17/99

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Officials at Southwest Texas State University have reported an enrollment of 20,093 students for the 1999 spring semester, the second highest spring enrollment in university history.

SWT enrolled 844 more students this semester than last spring, an increase of 4.4 percent. It is the highest spring semester enrollment at SWT since 1992 when the university enrolled 20,125 students.

Minority representation in the SWT student body increased to 25.4 percent, the highest percentage of minority students in school history. The enrollment of Hispanic students increased 6.4 percent and enrollment of African-American students was up 6 percent from last spring.

Enrollment has increased significantly at SWT for two consecutive semesters, a good sign, say university officials.

“We are very near our all-time high enrollment levels,” said James Studer, vice president for student affairs at SWT. “We are continuing to approach enrollment figures reached before we raised our admission standards several times, beginning in the early 1990s. That means we’re getting larger numbers of more highly qualified students than ever before.”

SWT students registered for 235,105 semester credit hours this spring, an increase of 12,236 or 5.5 percent over the same period last year.

For the 1999 spring semester, SWT enrolled 96 new freshmen, an increase of 14.3 percent from the previous year. Transfer enrollment was up 4.6 percent from a year ago.

Of the SWT student body, about 55 percent are female and 45 percent are male.