Hopes & Aspirations High

Dear Colleagues:

When we launched the Hopes & Aspirations High vision for TXST’s future just over a year ago, who could have imagined how much we would accomplish toward our goals to reach R1 classification by 2027, enhance student success, increase enrollment, grow the Round Rock Campus, and become an employer of preference?

Thank you for your transformative work to end 2023 with a resounding success, and to set the stage for infinite possibilities in 2024 and beyond.

Together, we are pursuing ambitions that require collaboration, creativity, vision, and aggressive (yet fiscally responsible) investment in infrastructure, programs, and people. However, the “why” behind them is and always has been clear and simple – our current and future students. They are the beneficiaries of a stronger research enterprise, meaningful academic experiences, top notch student support services, greater access to learning and degrees, and dedicated, inspired faculty and staff members.

The lofty – yet attainable – goals we are pursuing today will prepare TXST to maintain our values, our mission, and our “why” into the future. There is so much for me to report about where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. But today, I want to focus on how our “why” is coming to life across our university community, particularly around enrollment.

Enrollment = Access and Opportunity

Increasing enrollment means more students can achieve their dreams while also creating a foundation for sustained growth for TXST. Because so much of our annual budget is impacted by enrollment, the surest path to creating more resources for our faculty and staff is by growing our student body. I have committed to not raising tuition for two years, so growing enrollment is key to our financial stability now and in the future.

While universities in Texas and across the country are facing declining enrollments, TXST is strategically leveraging our momentum, our brand, our location, and your ingenuity to recruit more students (including international and graduate students), to retain more students, and to increase access to a TXST degree by offering more degrees online, at the Round Rock Campus, and at regional and international locations.

1. Spring Enrollment Update

We set records for Spring 2024 enrollment with a 3% increase over Spring 2023, which included unprecedented growth in doctoral and international enrollment. Recent adjustments to our recruitment strategies, for example, yielded a 43% surge in international student enrollment to 1,030 students for Spring 2024 compared to Spring 2023.

Above all, I am extremely proud of your efforts to ensure that Fall-to-Spring persistence for First-Time in College students hit a record 93.3%, which is a key indicator for our Fall-to-Fall retention goal of at least 80% for Fall 2024.

2. Fall Enrollment Outlook

Even with the federal government’s delay in releasing FAFSA information, our Fall 2024 enrollment outlook is strong. Compared to where we were last year at this time:

Ph.D. applications are up 28% to 427, which represents the highest number of doctoral applications ever and a 66% increase versus Fall 2019 (pre-Covid).
Master’s applications are up 6.3% to 2,848 and are currently ahead of pre-Covid levels (+9.5% versus Fall 2019).
Freshman applications are up 5.2% to 40,327.
Transfer student applications are up 1.2% to 2,581.
Attendance at our first Bobcat Day on the San Marcos Campus hit an all-time high (up 9%).

While early, we are encouraged by these numbers and are optimistic that we will finally top our enrollment record of 38,940 students set in Fall 2016.

3. Ongoing Enrollment Initiatives

Building on this success, we have several other initiatives to ensure a TXST degree is available to more students than ever before.

A. Increasing International Enrollment — While our commitment to serving Texas remains steadfast, we are eager to broaden our global impact. In a concerted effort to expand our global footprint, we are:

Finalizing contracts with 33 international recruiting agencies that will focus on Asia, Europe, and Africa (we previously only had four partners).
Creating partnerships with universities in Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, and Scotland to offer TXST degrees on their campuses. The model will enable students to receive a double degree – one from the partner university and one from TXST.
Collaborating with international universities in Australia, Italy, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and South Korea to establish study abroad hubs, where the host university furnishes essential resources, such as lodging, classroom space, and support services, at an affordable price (our goal is less than $3,500). This summer, we will pilot our first program in Italy.

B. Increasing Online Enrollment — Considerable headway has been made toward our goal to offer high-quality, affordable, and workforce-relevant degree programs through an online platform. We have signed a contract with a domestic online program management (OPM) company and are exploring a partnership with an international OPM to leverage their technologies and tools to bolster TXST’s capacity to offer online education abroad. The rollout of 45 online degree programs is slated for the next academic year.

We are also developing plans to offer short semester (“minimester”) courses, providing flexible learning opportunities during the winter and the spring-summer (May) breaks. These courses will be available either online or as study abroad opportunities. The anticipated launch for the Winter session is 2024 and for the May session is 2025.

C. Entering Regional Markets — Recently, we tapped into the North Texas market by initiating a partnership with Collin College to begin offering TXST degrees on their Allen Technical Campus. This alliance will allow students to be dually admitted to TXST and Collin College as freshmen, and to complete their four-year degree onsite at Collin College (or in San Marcos or Round Rock). TXST courses will be delivered through a blend of online and in-person modalities. We are developing similar partnerships with other community colleges and using market analysis to identify viable degree program options.

4. Round Rock Campus (RRC) Progress

Growing the 101-acre Round Rock Campus is a key pillar in our Hopes & Aspiration High vision. We remain laser focused on building out the RRC and increasing enrollment to 10,000 students. Fundamental to achieving these goals were three pivotal enhancements:

Restructuring the organizational framework of the RRC.
Appointing additional leadership and staff exclusively dedicated to the RRC, including a Vice President for the RRC, a Director of Student Success, and a recruiter.
Recruiting a new Dean to steer the College of Health Professions.

These enhancements have already begun yielding promising results, with enrollment at RRC this spring climbing 7.6% to 1,809 students.

Several additional initiatives are underway to further boost Fall 2024 enrollment:

Vice President for RRC Julie Lessiter is leading the Commission on the Round Rock Run to 10K to formulate strategic growth plans.
A general education curriculum is being developed that will enable students to complete their degrees entirely at the RRC.
Thanks to the leadership of our deans and department chairs and directors, we are adding one new graduate degree and 11 new undergraduate degree programs this Fall, bringing the RRC’s total degree programs to 27.
We have joined forces with Austin Community College (ACC) on “Bats to Cats” to significantly increase ACC transfers to both TXST campuses.
We will host “Discover TXST Round Rock” on April 6. This recruitment event will include informational sessions, guided facility and lab tours, and plenty of opportunities for prospective students to speak with faculty, staff, and current students.

Several ongoing major developments are set to drive additional transformation and goal achievements on the RRC:

Dr. Pranesh Aswath, the new Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, came onboard on February 1, 2024, and has prioritized strategically adding more academic programs offered at the RRC.
We are awaiting the outcome of our application to build a Veterans Affairs clinic on the Round Rock Campus; a decision is expected in Fall 2024.
We have identified a sole finalist to build our new Lifesciences Research Incubator. We expect design and construction to start in July 2024 and be completed in January 2026.
Plans for our fourth RRC classroom building, Esperanza Hall, are progressing, with an estimated construction start of July 2024 (anticipated completion by January 2026). As a reminder, the RRC master plan includes construction of up to 10 classroom buildings.

As always, I close this email by thanking you for all that you are doing to make TXST better. The remarkable progress described in this newsletter is a reminder of how much your work matters. The difference you make today builds the legacy for tomorrow.

Next month, I will be sharing an update on the presidential debate we will be hosting and the progress we continue to make across another important Hopes & Aspirations High pillar – to become an employer of preference. If our students are our “why,” then you are our “how.” For that, I am truly grateful to you all.

Kelly Damphousse
President

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