Picture taken by Sarah Self-Walbrick.
Texas Tech University may reach the goal of 40,000 students by 2020 a lot sooner than imagined.
On Tuesday, Tech released record-shattering enrollment numbers. For the fall 2014 semester, 35,134 students enrolled at Tech.
Last year, Tech’s fall enrollment included 33, 111 students. Enrollment numbers have continuously increased since 2008. The fall 2014 semester has been the third greatest increase in enrollment in Tech history and the greatest record increase since 1965.
Texas Tech University System Chancellor Robert Duncan said he is excited about the enrollment growth and hopes it will help Tech continue to grow in other areas as well.
“I think it’s exciting, but at the same time, growth presents challenges,” Duncan said. “We have to make sure that we have the resources to meet the growth, and we have to make sure our standards, you know our SAT scores and all those sorts of things, are continuing to rise as well.”
Chancellor Emeritus Kent Hance said he is excited to see Tech expand. He said the hard work of Duncan and University President M. Duane Nellis has increased the quality of Tech. Hance predicts that enrollment will reach 40,000 before 2020 at the rate it is growing at.
“I think we are recruiting not only in quantity but in quality as well,” Hance said.
In a statement, Nellis said the continuous efforts of everyone involved at Tech helped us reach this high number.
“We are experiencing unprecedented growth at Texas Tech, which makes this an exciting time in our history,” Nellis said. “Through the efforts of our graduates, faculty, staff and students, and the foundations they laid, record numbers of students annually are reaching out to Texas Tech to continue their education.”
This story will be updated throughout the day as more statistics are released.
Read College Affordability and Where Texas Tech Fits In to learn about how enrollment numbers affect tuition cost!
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