Record growth sees 1,700 new students
Lamar University experienced a record growth in freshman enrollment for the summer and fall semesters, with around 1,700 students joining the LU community, a 12% increase from last year. Every year, the university sets a goal of around 2% for growth.
Hanna Tarro, director of admissions, said there are a couple of factors that led to more students choosing Lamar, beginning with applications being more accessible to incoming students.
“We saw a growth in applications this past year from two different sources,” she said. “One, we implemented the Common App, which is a national application platform, and so just having our name out there in a system that students are already using worked in our favor.
“Then, Texas as a whole implemented a free college application week in October. Last year was the inaugural year.”
However, Tarro said the growth in applications through the two sources were not the only factors drawing students to Lamar University.
“Many students apply and choose not to go somewhere,” she said. “But, by them applying and getting admitted, they also received a very competitive scholarship offer that maybe other institutions weren’t able to provide. When it was just a convenience turned into a real possibility that they can attend here, achieve their goals, and achieve them with a lower cost than maybe other schools could provide to them, So, that, I think, is a big contributing factor.”
Tarro said another factor is LU’s early bird program, which allows juniors in high school to apply and receive an acceptance letter and be offered scholarships.
Alongside the growth in freshman enrollment, transfer enrollment saw an 8% increase combined for fall and summer.
“I think our undergrad community as a whole is growing,” Tarro said. “The freshmen (are) our biggest, but the transfers are also experiencing some great growth across the board.”
Moving forward from this year’s growth, Tarro said they hope to continue the momentum while still being realistic.
“Our plan in to set a more realistic 2% growth goal like we always do, but then have this stretch goal that can be a larger percent goal,” she said. “We would love to see the number surpass 2,000 incoming freshmen. That’s the aim of administration as well. It’s one where I think we can get that with the efforts that we’ve been doing over the past couple of years.”