CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found enrollment in institutions of higher learning was down overall over the course of the last year.
The trend is affecting both the two-year and four-year educational institutions, but Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is expecting to see more new faces for the spring semester.
"The initial indicators for spring enrollment look positive as far as our new students are concerned,” said Andy Benoit, TAMU-CC's vice president for enrollment management.
In fact compared to last spring, Benoit confirms the school's transfer population is up around 11%.
“Del Mar has a lot of their stuff - virtual right now - and some of the students have started to realize, oh you guys are having these clinicals in person, having these in person labs," said TAMU-CC student Anuja Dhakal, a senior who is studying nursing.
She says she preferred staying around TAMU-CC's campus rather than virtually learning from home in Houston.
“I know that the nursing program here is really really good," she said. "Initially I was like okay, I knew I wanted to get into this nursing program.”
According to TAMU-CC officials last semester for the fall of 2020, more than 11,000 applications for admission came in and around 10,880 were enrolled.
“For most students they’re probably doing better than before because we have a lot of more funding available for them to help them with the costs, ” said the school's Assistant Director of Recruitment Maggie Cano.
Dhakal, who has attended TAMU-CC for four straight years, expressed how overwhelming it was at the beginning of the pandemic.
“That's when I was really scared at the beginning of the pandemic," she said. "Both of my parents were unemployed for at least 3 months.”
Classes for TAMU-CC's spring semester begin on Jan.25.
If you need to finalize admission to the university, on Saturday Jan. 23 students will have the opportunity to bring in materials, get advised and complete admission at TAMU-CC.
