The increased freshman class is a very positive trend, indeed. Just to put it into numbers, though, that 10% increase would mean about 200 additional students (which tracks with the 230 additional beds in the re-opened dorms). To get back to 12,000 students would require at least another 3-4 years of 10% freshman growth per year. Where SFA could greatly increase the curve up in enrollment is via transfer students. I'm hoping that being in the UT system will get us more transfers from 2 year colleges.
What's doubly heartening is that this crop of freshmen are mostly real students who intend to stay at SFA for a full 4 years.
Back in the 2010s, SFA was playing games with the topline enrollment number by greatly expanding dual credit offerings to students across Texas who would take 1 or 2 total classes from SFA while enrolled in high school, but who had no intention of ever enrolling or getting a degree here. However, they could still be counted towards the 13,000 enrollment number. Some of our decline from 13,000 to 11,000 was actually a strategic reduction in dual credit agreements to ones that make more geographic sense.