After 2 years of COVID-19 restrictions, Texas State University lifted all protocols for the 2022-2023 academic school year and had to adapt to the largest freshmen class of more than 7,500 students. However, with the acceptance of a huge group, many people have questions about how Texas State plans to assess its admissions and future students who plan to attend in Fall 2023.
Gary T. Ray, associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing, discussed the plans that the university has to adapt to the future growth of the campus.
“The president is aiming to move our retention rate, meaning the number of students who will return in the following year. The first-year persistence rate will hopefully move from 80.2% to 85% by 2025,” said Ray.
Chart shows the number of student who return in the spring semesters.
In order to achieve this, the school looks into scholarships and boundaries that could deter a student from applying to Texas State. The schools remain test optional because high schools cannot provide required tests needed for college, such as ACTs and SATS. This will remain in place in 2023.
As the campus is slowly developing, they have provided more online options for classes, registration and have planned to launch a “One Stop Student Support Center” that is intended to filter and help navigate any questions future students may have. The project is hopefully set to launch in 2023 and will available to all students.
Texas State will use the Common App as well as Apply Texas to help ease the admissions process and become much more available outside of the state.
Texas State has also taken on TXST NEXT to promote the “real” Texas State. In 2018, Texas State entered general branding research to help rebrand and attract a new generation of students. The school recently won a national award from the American Marketing Association for the TXST NEXT Campaign.
With the new innovations, Texas State is making changes in housing and residential life due to the increase in students and the lack of space for the students. Housing and Residential Life has been set to build a new dorm called “Hilltop Housing Complex” that will hold over a thousand students. (see yellow dot on map for location)
Texas State requires freshmen to live in dorms to help with engagement, community and helpful navigation of the campus. However, the issue this semester was due to the lack of dorms available to house this class leaving many students to live in hotels causing an abnormal first-year experience.
Andrew Hodge, senior creative writing & communication studies major, has been an RA for 3 years. He currently resides in Laurel Hall where he has had first-hand experience of dorm life with the largest freshmen class after the pandemic and its effects.
” I think the biggest effect of the pandemic was the number of freshmen who chose Texas State,” said Andrew Hodge,” the university sets a number of students they think will attend. The difference was the number of students who are actually in attendance this year creating some housing issues.”
In 2019, the campus tore down a dorm with plans to build one that would house more students (“Hilltop Housing Complex”). Due to COVID-19, the construction was postponed to 2023.
College can be stressful and many students do not know what to expect. Texas State offers many amenities and services to freshmen to help their transition from high school to college.
Macy Miller, a freshman, is currently living in Falls Hall where she pursuing a nursing degree. She plans to go off to nursing school once she has completed her basics at Texas State.
“Texas State is really fun and I have made a lot of friends,” said Miller, “I feel bad for the students who weren’t able to live on campus, but I am grateful for the opportunity I have.”
Texas State will continue to grow and will have to adapt to the new generations. With TXST NEXT, a new president and goals of being an R1 University, the university is coming up with plans to help bridge any gaps for future students. Texas State Student Involvement is great way to become a part of campus!
GET INVOLVED AT TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY! Texas State provides a lot of opportunities to succeed as freshmen and will continue to adapt to future admissions processes.
