UTA sets new record high for fall enrollment

As the North Texas population continues to grow rapidly, so does the student population at the University of Texas at Arlington, which set a new record enrollment this fall.

The preliminary census recorded almost 40,000 Texas-based students enrolled this semester, UTA said this week. Globally, more than 45,000 students are seeking degrees through UTA this fall.

“Not only are we taking more students in and students of a higher quality are choosing us,” UTA President Vistap Karbhari said Friday, “we’re also graduating more students who are going to have an impact on the local economy and on the workforce that we need in the state of Texas.”

Karbhari said that time is the only factor before UTA is the largest campus in the University of Texas System, surpassing UT Austin. He predicts that by the end of the 2016-17 academic year, the total number of UTA students will exceed 56,000.

“This is something I’m extremely proud of,” Karbhari said. “The university is not just being able to meet its mission of educating students face to face but using very innovative technology to serve a much larger population with no decrease in the rigor of our studies and no decrease in the excellence that we have.”

For the fourth year in a row, U.S. News & World Report ranked UTA fifth for undergraduate diversity among national universities. This is shown in part by UTA’s almost 12 percent increase in Hispanic undergraduate students this year.

“Our diversity has been a source of great pride and strength for us, but it’s also the way in which our university has not just increased in numbers,” Karbhari said.

Areas with the most growth include the College of Nursing and Health Innovation with a 23 percent increase, the School of Social Work, which grew by 6.7 percent, and the College of Business, which surpassed 6,000 students for the first time, the news release said.

“We’re serving our mission and our mission of being the urban flagship is to serve this Metroplex as it is growing and also have a global impact,” Karbhari said.

By the numbers

39,714 Texas-based students at UTA this fall

7.3 percent enrollment increase from fall 2015 to fall 2016

57,000 global students UTA expects by the end of the 2016-17 academic year

6.4 percent increase in undergraduate students this fall

11.8 percent increase in Hispanic undergraduate students

82 College of Business ranking for best graduate schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report

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This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 4:56 PM with the headline "UTA sets new record high for fall enrollment."