Enrollment, student test scores up at many Texas Baptist schools

Posted: 9/21/07

Enrollment, student test scores
up at many Texas Baptist schools

While college enrollment across the nation is down slightly, enrollment and student test scores are on the rise at many Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated universities.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently reported slightly fewer 2006 high school graduates across the country are enrolling in colleges as compared to 2005 graduates. But many Texas Baptist schools saw enrollment grow or remain nearly even.

Houston Baptist University posted the highest increase in enrollment, a 9.1 percent jump to a total of 2,338 students.

“This is truly a phenomenal time for HBU as we welcome the largest class of freshmen in our history,” said HBU President Robert Sloan. “Every facet of the campus has been impacted by the significant growth and caliber of our students. In fact, as we celebrate the increase of new students on campus, we have also begun preparation for future classes with the construction of a new residence college to be completed by fall 2008.”

Enrollment at Howard Payne University increased 4.2 percent to 1,384, including students taking classes at the school’s satellite campuses in Midland, Corpus Christi and El Paso.

“We are pleased to report this enrollment growth this year,” said Howard Payne President Lanny Hall. “This underscores the rising demand for Christian higher education and the response of students and parents to Howard Payne’s efforts to keep higher education as affordable as possible. We continue to help families find creative ways to manage the critical investment they are making in the lives of students.”

Overall enrollment at Wayland Baptist University increased 3.3 percent, including 7 percent at the school’s Plainview campus. In Wayland’s campuses across the nation, 5,709 students are enrolled in classes.

“The freshman class is more than 17.5 percent up from last fall, with more than 250 freshmen,” said Claude Lusk, Wayland vice president of enrollment management. “From the new student perspective, we do have the largest number living on campus that we’ve ever had before as well, an 11 percent hike from last year.”

Hardin-Simmons University, which is near capacity, saw enrollment grow to 2,435 from 2,372. The university carefully chose its students. Selectivity has tightened to 26 percent from 29 percent in 2006, 39 percent in 2005 and 53 percent in 2004. 

Logsdon Seminary has record enrollment at 115 students.

Dallas Baptist University set an enrollment record for the 20th consecutive year with an increase to 5,244 students, 91 higher than last year’s enrollment.

More than 14,170 students enrolled at Baylor University this fall, including the academically most qualified freshman class and the largest number of seminary students in the school’s history.

This year’s freshman class has a record average SAT score of 1219, compared with last year’s previous record of 1213. Since 1999, the average SAT score for Baylor freshmen has risen 50 points.

More than 400 students are enrolled at George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Baylor’s overall fall enrollment of 14,174 students is the second highest total in university history, behind 2001’s record enrollment of 14,221 students.

Enrollment at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor dropped slightly to 2,685, but the percentage of minority students jumped from 25 percent to 28 percent.

“One of the university’s strategic goals is to recruit an ethnically diverse student body that reflects the population demographics of our region,” said Ron Brown, associate vice president for enrollment management. “We have also been working in recent months to increase the number of international students enrolled at UMHB, which we more than doubled this fall.  We are pleased to have this increase because we recognize that these students bring an important global dimension to learning experiences on our campus.”

Enrollment at East Texas Baptist University dipped slightly to 1,308 students, which Vince Blankenship, ETBU vice president of enrollment management and marketing attributed to tougher academic admission requirements.

Baptist University’s of the Americas enrollment in accredited programs remained about even at 200 students. An additional 500 students are enrolled in non-accredited BUA programs around the globe.

Compiled by John Hall at BGCT Communications