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Overview of THECB Fall 2023 Enrollment Data

ByBlake Decker

This blog post serves as a pause in our fall data series on the relationship between lifetime earnings and educational attainment. With the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) releasing fall 2023 enrollment data for public colleges and universities this week, it seems appropriate to provide an enrollment update, as we will return to the fall series in our next post. All data shared below come directly from the THECB’s data website that includes preliminary enrollment through the census date for the current semester.
Tab 1: CHANGE (#) – The first visualization below shows university-level growth or contraction from fall 2022 to fall 2023.

  • Public universities in Texas collectively increased enrollment by 11,140 (1.7%) from 666,322 in fall 2022 to 677,462 in fall 2023.
  • Texas A&M University-College Station (TAMU) had the highest numerical increase with 2,433 more students in fall 2023 (69,598) than in fall 2022 (67,165).
  • The University of North Texas (UNT) had the 2nd-highest student increase of 2,402 (44,349 in fall 2022 to 46,751 in fall 2023).
  • Universities in the Texas A&M University System had the highest increase in student enrollment of any public university system with 5,850 more students enrolled in fall 2023 (154,865) than in fall 2022 (149,015). By comparison, the UNT System increased by 2,499 (48,050 in fall 2022 to 50,549 in fall 2023) and the UT System increased by 1,940 (238,905 in fall 2022 to 240,845 in fall 2023).

Tab 2: CHANGE (%) – The second visualization below shows percentage change in enrollment from fall 2022 to fall 2023.

  • The A&M System had 7 of the top 12 highest percentage increases in enrollment from fall 2022 to fall 2023 for public universities in Texas.
  • In the THECB data, Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMUC) had the highest percentage increase at 12.5%, increasing from 10,754 in fall 2022 to 12,094 in fall 2023.
  • Joining TAMUC in the top 12 were Texas A&M University-Kingsville (4th at 8.3%), Prairie View A&M University (6th at 5.7%), Texas A&M University-San Antonio (8th at 4.3%), Texas A&M International University (10th at 3.64%), TAMU (11th at 3.62%), and Tarleton State University (12th at 3.3%).
  • The UNT System and its two universities had the highest percentage increase of 5.2%, while the A&M System had an overall increase of 3.93% from fall 2022 to fall 2023. The UT System experienced a 0.8% increase in student enrollment from fall 2022 to fall 2023.

Notes: Some universities in Texas offer dual enrollment that is distinctive from dual credit. Student headcount from dual enrollment is not captured in census date reporting, and therefore is not included in the data below. Hovering over data points shows tooltips with additional information. Click the tab headings to move between visualizations.

So What?

Across all institutional types (colleges, universities, and health-related institutions) and sectors (public and private), higher education enrollment in Texas rose by 37,808 students (2.53%) from fall 2022 (1,494,662) to fall 2023 (1,532,470). The fall 2023 total is more than 42,000 students higher than the fall 2021 total of 1,490,079. Public community and state colleges saw the highest numerical increase for a specific sector, continuing to rebound from post-pandemic losses by adding 23,736 more students in fall 2023 (676,141) when compared with fall 2022 (652,405). In general, the fall 2023 enrollment data from the THECB are promising, as Texas outpaced the national average of a 2% increase in enrollment from fall 2022 to fall 2023 across all higher education sectors (National Student Clearinghouse). Once the THECB publishes certified data, we will revisit this topic to see which segments and student populations had the greatest changes in enrollment for the fall 2023 semester.