Cool opportunity for SFA students from us being part of the UT system.

https://www.facebook.com/100064820882874/posts/889228036581218/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

We're celebrating some exciting recent developments, Jacks!
1️⃣ With significant growth in applications and enrollments, we've reopened two residence halls to welcome even more Lumberjacks! (And it’s not too late to join — we’re still accepting applications and Orientation… pic.twitter.com/eWA6vmeUh3

— Stephen F. Austin State University (@SFASU) June 7, 2024

Really good information about increases in incoming freshmen class etc. Two years running. Hoping we can get enrollment up over 11,000 this fall. Next fall (2025) over 12,000.

New SFA president reports increased enrollment during first month in office (ktre.com)

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.

NacMan said:

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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.

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The increase in freshman will also help the sophomore numbers, which had dipped to 1600. In the 2016 - 2018 timeframe our sophomore classification had closer to 1900 - 2400 (SFA Institutional Research)

If our retention stays around 71% , we should start to see our sophomore class start to increase, and return to that 2200 - 2400 level. That will accelerate our return to the 13,000 level. That being said, we need 3 or more first time freshmen classes, to be over 2100. We can get there.

The sky's the limit for @SFASU aviation sciences students who will be the first in the nation to fly the @Tecnam P-Mentor two-seat trainer airplane – and with that gain valuable training experiences on an advanced platform. SFA-branded too! #AxeEm 💜 ✈️https://t.co/ckL12M4jkX pic.twitter.com/pP5swaxPOu

— The University of Texas System (@utsystem) June 25, 2024

Good speech from Weaver today, linked here. Weaver's remarks begin around 1:06.


He went over a lot of really good statistical information to give us a good picture of SFA in relation to other UT schools.

Overall enrollment will be down again in Fall 2024, but almost all of the drop this year is due to pullback in dual credit offerings.

Other highlights:
-We are 5th highest (out of 9) in cost (tuition +fees)
-last in expenditures per student
-8th out of 9 in faculty salaries
-last in amount of research produced
-last in % of enrolled graduate students
-3rd in 4-year graduation rate

I found it refreshing because it identified a handful of key areas where SFA needs to improve rather than the all-too-common "just do better everywhere" approach of previous years which unfortunately led to past improvement efforts lacking any focus.

NacMan said:

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Good speech from Weaver today, linked here. Weaver's remarks begin around 1:06.


He went over a lot of really good statistical information to give us a good picture of SFA in relation to other UT schools.

Overall enrollment will be down again in Fall 2024, but almost all of the drop this year is due to pullback in dual credit offerings.

Other highlights:
-We are 5th highest (out of 9) in cost (tuition +fees)
-last in expenditures per student
-8th out of 9 in faculty salaries
-last in amount of research produced
-last in % of enrolled graduate students
-3rd in 4-year graduation rate

I found it refreshing because it identified a handful of key areas where SFA needs to improve rather than the all-too-common "just do better everywhere" approach of previous years which unfortunately led to past improvement efforts lacking any focus.

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Wasn't able to access the video, but your summary is useful. Incoming freshman class is supposed to be up 10% over last year (which was also an improvement over the previous year).

I hope our academic offerings for STEM areas continue to expand. That is likely the best long-term strategy for enrollment growth.

Yes, I guess the video could only be accessed from on campus. Not sure why - overall it was a pretty positive picture painted of SFA and Weaver hit a solid triple with his message of specific focuses for improvement. He didn't really break it down as STEM vs. non-STEM, but rather things like increasing retention, moving money from non-productive spending into spending on student experiences, and reducing red tape.

The UT System’s newest president, Dr. Neal Weaver, has quickly developed a deep appreciation for the UT Regents' commitment to affordability and access to higher education. With support from the Regents’ Promise Plus Endowment, @SFASU’s need-based student financial aid program,… pic.twitter.com/qnJXFE5It0

— The University of Texas System (@utsystem) August 20, 2024

Do we have enrollment numbers yet?

TallTexan said:

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Do we have enrollment numbers yet?

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I think someone wrote on this thread, that enrollment was down slightly. Mostly due to a drop in dual enrollment programs. SFA walked away from some of these agreements as they weren't resulting in continuing enrollment.

Incoming freshmen and grad students up I think the prognostication is that next fall we will see an increase as we have refilled the funnel of freshmen/sophmores