SAN MARCOS For the first time in Texas State University’s 125-year history, more than 40,000 students have enrolled for the fall 2024 semester.
This year’s enrollment of 40,678 surpasses the previous record of 38,849, which was set in 2016. It is an increase of 1,805 students, or 4.6%, over fall 2023. The record count includes all-time high enrollment numbers for first-year students, graduate students, doctoral students and international students.
“Our historic fall enrollment of more than 40,000 students is a significant milestone. While it’s definitely something our teams can be proud of, our mission extends beyond simply enrolling a lot of students. Their success is at the heart of everything we do here,” President Kelly Damphousse said in a news release. “Our mission is to serve the growing population of Texas. Our strategic enrollment plan is making it possible for more qualified Texans to earn a life-changing college degree.
“Like me, more than 41% of our students are the first in their families to pursue a college degree,” he said. “The demographics of our student body perfectly mirror those of the state of Texas. We are driven to make higher education more accessible to Texans and dedicated to ensuring that every capable student finds a clear path to earn a degree at TXST – including for those who start at a community college or who have stopped out of college for a while. The success of those efforts is reflected this fall in our record-setting overall enrollment, freshman and transfer enrollment and first-year retention numbers.”
Enrollment at Texas State’s Round Rock Campus also hit an all-time high, leaping 23% over fall 2023. This increase was driven in large part by the addition of 10 new academic programs this fall, enabling students to have the opportunity to complete a four-year degree in Round Rock without the need to commute to San Marcos, thus saving them time and money.
The incoming freshman class of 8,165 first-year students set a record enrollment for the fourth consecutive year, representing an increase of 273 students over fall 2023. The university received a record number of freshman applications (45,157) for the fall of 2024, a 6% increase from 2024 and up 42% since 2019. TXST was the most-applied to university in the state among high school seniors using the Apply Texas application.
To put these numbers into perspective, the TXST first-time in college (FTIC) class is larger than the total enrollment of 10 other public universities in Texas and almost as large as two others.
Of these FTIC students, 42.6% (3,480) ranked in top 25% of their high school class and represent 41 states, 23 countries and 193 Texas counties, with 94% of them coming from Texas. First-year international students increased 290 over the previous year to 736.
TXST’s efforts to make higher education attainable for all is reflected in the freshman class: 3,750 of enrolled freshmen qualified for and received merit scholarships, up 653 from 2023, and 46.6% are Pell Grant eligible, an increase of 217 to 3,817.
The number of transfer students choosing TXST continued at a robust pace, with this year’s 2,829 up 146 above last year’s totals. Of those transfers, 916 enrolled with merit scholarships, an increase of 139 from 2023.
These new students are entering a supportive environment at TXST that equips them for success — the university set records this semester for both first-year retention rates for freshmen at 80.2% and transfer students at 85.8%. Retention rates are a measure of first-year students returning to college the following year and are significant indicators of student success.
TXST’s ongoing investment in the expansion of its graduate programs as part of the university’s Run to R1 initiative is attracting top-quality students. Two new doctoral programs started accepting students this fall, with five more either approved or pending approval to go live in fall 2025. As a result, the university set a record by welcoming 136 new doctoral students — a 22.5% increase over 2023 — and 1,199 new master’s students, a 12.5% increase from the previous year.
Other noteworthy milestones include:
Total new students — including freshmen, transfers and graduate students — set a new record at 12,328, up 4.6%, or 546 students from fall 2023. This is the fourth consecutive year that new student enrollment has exceeded 11,000.
International student enrollment set a new record, topping 1,500 for the first time in TXST history. This fall’s enrollment of 1,525 is up an impressive 61%, or 581 students, over fall 2023.
Fall semester credit hours surpassed 500,000 for the first time, setting a new record with 513,638.
The College of Science and Engineering showed continued growth as Texas State’s largest college, reporting enrollment of 8,942 students. The College of Liberal Arts has the second-largest enrollment with 5,850 students, followed by the College of Fine Arts and Communication with 5,232 and the McCoy College of Business with 5,221.
