UT sets all-time enrollment record, with increases in Black, Hispanic populations

The University of Texas boasted an all-time high enrollment and its second-largest freshman class in its 2024 enrollment data released Thursday.

Enrollment reached 53,864 undergraduate and graduate students as of the 12th class day, increasing for Asian, Black, multiracial, Pacific Islander, Hispanic and international students specifically from 2023 to 2024, though first-generation student enrollment dipped by 70 students.

The numbers are a notable contrast from declines in underrepresented groups seen at multiple prestigious universities nationwide after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year to end race-conscious admissions, rendering affirmative action moot. This is the first class enrolled since that decision.

Under state law, UT notably enrolls 75% of each class from the top 6% of all Texas high school students, representing and serving the diverse state fully. But UT President Jay Hartzell announced this week that the threshold for auto-admission will be lowered to 5% for the admissions cycle for fall 2026 due to rising competitiveness for enrollment at UT and the growing youth population in the state.

UT also had improvements in graduation rates, the data showed, with a particular boost for Pell Grant-eligible students, low-income students on federal financial aid. Since 2013, four-year undergraduate graduation rates have increased by 22 percentage points to 74.8% overall and have doubled for Black students. First-year retention is also at an all-time high, the university says, with 96.7% of first-year students staying enrolled.

Despite these increases, Black, Hispanic, first-generation and Pell-eligible students still see lower graduation rates than the overall student body by at least 5.9% less. This will be the first fall the students lack the support of diversity, equity and inclusion programs geared at increasing retention and belonging for students of underrepresented backgrounds after UT's compliance with Senate Bill 17, Texas's anti-DEI law, and the university's additional measures April 2 that shuttered the Division of Campus and Community Engagement, ended multiple programs and cut 49 former-DEI staff positions.

Black students now make up 5.4% of UT's overall enrollment, or about 2,900 students. Hispanic students make up 25.5% of students enrolled at UT, and Asian students make up 22.4%.

Pell-eligible students can access student support services such as "UT for Me," which is sponsored by Dell Scholars and Texas Advanced Commitment. Since 2020, four-year graduation rates have increased for Pell-eligible students more than any other group. First-generation students had the lowest four-year graduation rate at 65.8%, but UT-funded support is geared toward increasing retention and support.

The university also saw its second 10% application increase in a row, accounting for 72,885 applications this year, the data showed.

At his annual State of University address Wednesday, Hartzell said this year's class consisted of 800 students who were their class's valedictorian or salutatorian, and about a quarter of the class had established an organization, nonprofit or start-up before entering UT.

Hartzell also spoke Wednesday about the importance of serving all students regardless of income and improving the accessibility and affordability of the institution while recruiting top talent. Now, he said, is "a chance for us to think more deeply about what we mean by student success."

"We have made great strides in thinking about our students and positioning them to graduate on time and go out and into the world," Hartzell said. "Now we have to think more and more about what do we do to attract more and more of them, and what do we do to support them and enable them succeed when they're here."