A&M-Central Texas has set new enrollment records this spring.
The total number of courses being taken is now the highest it has ever been at 23,427 semester credit hours – breaking the previous record set in Spring 2017.
According to the university’s institutional research and effectiveness office, the increase is a 10.6% increase in the one year between 2024 and 2025 and a whopping 24.5% increase in the two years between 2023 to 2025. University funding is generated by credit hours.
The total number of students enrolled, referred to as headcount, is also growing substantially between Spring 2024 and Spring 2025, and now totals 2,417 – an 8.2% increase in the one year between Spring 2024 and 2025, and 14.3% increase in the two years between 2023 to 2025.
University officials looking into the data have identified some specific areas of growth, present among certain categories of students and in degree programs in the university’s three colleges.
For example, the percentage of continuing and returning students has grown steadily over the last two years – increasing from 1,721 in Spring 2023 to 2,025 in Spring 2025.
Even more impressive is the dramatic growth in the university’s graduate programs that is continuing its upward trajectory. Graduate school headcount has grown by an impressive 34.6% from Spring 2023 to Spring 2025.
The College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business Administration, and the College of Education and Human Development are also seeing significant growth in undergraduate and graduate program enrollment.
The graduate program in criminal justice experienced an average two-year growth of 41% from Spring 2023 to Spring 2025, and the undergraduate program in music increased by 16%.
The graduate program in information systems experienced a whopping 69% growth from Spring 2023 to Spring 2025. And the undergraduate degree in accounting followed suit with 65% growth in the same time frame.
Likewise, the graduate program in clinical mental health grew 34.7% between Spring 2023 and 2025, and the undergraduate program in psychology followed suit with an impressive 19.6% growth during the same two years.
A&M-Central Texas President, Richard Rhodes, Ph.D., applauded the efforts of the university’s recruitment and enrollment staff for their active engagement in outreach and the student support programs that are designed to continue strengthening retention and degree completion.
“Enrollment gains of this size and proportion are always the product of many things going right simultaneously,” he said. “Current students are persisting at record levels. And that is made possible by the fact that we have kept our tuition low. In fact, we have been ranked the #1 Least Expensive University in the U.S. by the editors of EdSmart.”
Rhodes also expressed gratitude for the university’s faculty and staff who, he noted, have devoted themselves to their students, programs, and scholarship.
“Our affordability makes pursuing a degree economically feasible,” he said. “But it’s the tremendous talent of the faculty and staff that turns potential into graduates. In the last 15 years, A&M-Central Texas has awarded 11,311 undergraduate and graduate degrees.”
The growth, Rhodes concluded, is an affirmation that the university is doing what it was created to do for those it was meant to serve.
“A&M-Central Texas has a bold purpose,” he said. “We are here to serve those who have some college or university credits, but who haven’t finished their undergraduate degree. And our graduate programs are here for those whose professional goals include a master’s degree.”
The university’s second eight-week semester begins March 24th. For more information, visit www.tamuct.edu or call 254.279.0421.