Students Opinions on Increased Enrollment

By: Macie Vinson

Texas State has broken enrollment records this past fall and is projected to break records again next fall. Texas State is now named the fourth largest university in Texas, but how do current students feel about this?

According to University News Service press release, 36,790 students enrolled at Texas State in Fall 2014, breaking the enrollment record for the 17th year in a row. With enrollment increasing, diversity is also increasing, with minorities making up about 46 percent of the population.

Amy Bender, photo by Andrew Potter

Amy Bender, a junior, thinks that the increasing diversity of the students at Texas State will benefit the school. “This is a strength, and adds diversity for students, faculty, staff and the organizations that will come with a students of different back grounds and foster more understanding of different cultures."

The largest minority group we have at Texas State is Hispanic population, at 11,606 students.

Candace Jackson, photo by
Natalie Walther

Candace Jackson, a junior, has seen some problems that she would like to see resolved as a result of the growing population. "It made parking way too expensive. It made traffic in the small town of San Marcos way too unbearable." Even though she does see some issues with the rising population she would still like to see the school continue to grow, because she encourages people to come to college and she thinks that Texas State's image would be better.

Liz Fraire, photo by Katherine Coleman

 The growth has made classes larger and Liz Fraire, a fashion merchandising major, thinks that this makes the classes less personable and in turn less effective. However she is more comfortable in a larger group setting so she doesn't mind the big classes as much and she likes the atmosphere of Texas State.

Joshua Hinojosa, photo by Victoria Marin

Joshua Hinojosa, a junior, has found that due to increased enrollment sometimes getting the class you want can be a struggle. "Registering for classes, it has become more tedious to actually get the classes I need." He would like to see the university continue to grow, but he also thinks that there should be more classes so that everyone can get into the classes that they need.

Jenah Stephenson, photo by
Kiersten Ehr

Jenah Stephenson, a communication studies major, said that the size of the university influenced her decisions to come to Texas State.
"Texas State is the right size, it felt like I actually mattered here. I wasn’t just another number."

Josh Mitchell, photo by Kiersten Ehr

 Josh Mitchell, a senior at Texas State, thinks that growing enrollment is a good way for Texas State to stay competitive with other schools in the state. "I do believe the university should continue to grow to be competitive with other schools like UT and A&M they need to grow."

The general consensus is that there are problems when a university grows so fast, however growing is good for the school. 

Texas State, a rising destination for prospective students

By: Victoria Marin

With an enrollment of 36,790 for the 2014 fall semester, Texas State has set a record-high for the 17th consecutive year.

A 3.5 percent increase of student enrollment from last year has made Texas State the fourth-largest university in the state, according to a press release from Denise M. Trauth, president of Texas State.

Jenah Stephenson Photo by: Kiersten Ehr

Texas State has become a top destination for prospective students and has announced the most diverse student body in the school’s history, according to a University News Service press release, thus turning the university into a “melting pot” of students with minorities making up 46 percent of the student body.

"Texas State is the right size; it feels like I actually matter here," said
Jenah Stephenson, a communications studies major whose decision to attend Texas State was affected by the size.

Hispanic enrollment increased approximately 9 percent and African-American enrollment increased more than 19 percent.

“Although our growth poses some space challenges, what's also telling is that Texas State has become a top destination among prospective college students,” said Trauth.

Candace Jackson Photo by: Natalie Walther

Joshua Hinojosa

As Trauth said, the growth poses some challenges; students on campus have voiced some of these challenges, which pertain to registration, traffic and limitation of resources.

“When it comes time for registration, not only do you have to wait behind all these people to wait for a class, there is a very high change you won’t even get into the class because of the amount of people who are trying to take it as well,” said junior Joshua Hinojosa.

The growth has limited student resources, such as the campus REC, disabling students from taking advantage of these resources, according to junior Candace Jackson.

Stephanie Dibert Photo by: Sarah Bey

Josh Mitchell Photo by: Kiersten Ehr

Despite these concerns, students still believe the university should continue to grow. 

Growth in a city also means more business in the future, according to junior Stephanie Dibert. 

"We have one of the best geography programs in the state, one of the best business programs in the state, we have a lot of good programs here," said senior Josh Mitchell. "If we continue to grow, we continue to improve on those programs."

Leanne Halliburton Photo by: Roy Zorola

Growth also means more people to interact with. 

"It’s always good to have a bigger alumni network and donor base and just generally grow the community," said education major, Leanne Halliburton.

With a rapid growth of applicants, Texas State is expected to continue expanding.

Students reflect on campus growth

By: Kiersten Ehr

The rising star legacy at Texas State University has surpassed expectations with student enrollment sky rocking in San Marcos. 

Student enrollment in the fall of 2014 ranked at 36,790. This is the 17th consecutive year Texas State has set a new record for total enrollment. Texas State is proud to set diversity as a priority in the campus life with 46% of minorities. 

The Texas State website Enrollment Management and Marketing shows the campus student population diversity shows the percentage of the following ethnic background to name a few, 18,983 White, 11,606 Hispanic/Latino, 3,372 African Americans, 819 Asian and 722 multiracial. 

Jenah Stephenson

According to a Texas State Press release, Texas State University President Denise Trauth, released a statement following the campuses growth, "we take our role seriously in preparing our state's future leader and workforce, and this steady growth tells us that students and their parents feel the same way." 

With the enrollment growth at Texas State, sophomore, Jenah Stephenson majoring in Communication Studies, thinks that the campus should continue to grow allowing students from in and out of Texas better opportunities at Texas State.

“It’s made me more proud of my school. It shows we are a really good institution. More people want to come here each year. I think San Marcos will keep it humble instead of being like UT because it is a big city. I like the fact that the school was a small school, and I love watching it expand,” said Stephenson. 

With the massive growth on the Texas State campus, construction and parking has created issues for students commuting on a daily basis. Students comment on how the effects impact their daily school routine. 

“It made parking way too expensive. It made traffic in the small town of San Marcos way too unbearable. It made resources at the school limited, like the rec, you can’t go at certain times because there will be no machines,” said junior Candice Jackson. "Up side, San Marcos is growing massively. The income is exceeding the demand."

The rapid growth has created new walking routes in front of Commons Dining Hall and has increased traffic flow around LBJ ultimately creating an effect on students. 

“I’d say the enormous amount of construction on campus, though I know it’s all apart of the growing population. If it were me and I had seen all that before enrolling, I’d be turned off by that and not want to be at a university that is incomplete,” said Joshua Hinojosa, a junior international relations major. 

Students point on the parallelism for more construction will compensate for the rapid increase of enrollment, but overall the construction will be good for the university and for the future of Texas State.

 Josh Mitchell

"I think the expansion of the campus and beautification of the campus that is happening right now will generally attack more students, but I think the university is beginning to forget is that a lot of people that are here now came here because it felt small," said Josh Mitchell, a senior on the Student Government Academic Affairs Chair Committee.  

Some students feel the enrollment increase will help for academic and athletic national recommendation and will promote the awareness for diversity. 

“This is a strength, and adds diversity for students, faculty, staff and the organizations that will come with a students of different back grounds and foster more understanding of different cultures,” junior Amy Bender said.   
 "Our growth is a positive reflection on all aspects of campus life.




 

Kimberly Witthaus, Texas State Student and Aspiring Twitch Streamer

By Kimberly Witthaus

Kimberly was born and raised in the small town of Azle, Texas, and began her journey at Texas State University in the Fall of 2012. She is a Mass Communications – Electronic Media Major with a minor in Media Studies and is in her third year at Texas State. After she graduates, Kimberly hopes to attend The University of North Texas to obtain her master’s degree and become a web developer.

Currently Kimberly is under the employment of Tarrant Regional Water District as a social media content creator for their engineering and operations departments. She feels very blessed to have the chance to work remotely from San Marcos and continue her summer job while at school.

Kimberly models her new "lezbro" shirt. Photo by Kimberly Witthaus

While Kimberly has many hobbies, gaming is the most prominent at the moment. She has set her sights on becoming an esteemed Twitch streamer and already had made a small following playing games with her fiancée, fellow Texas State student Macy Neel. She runs her channel 5 days a week and plays various video games for her viewers on her channel.

In addition to her channel, she also is a co-host for a gaming talk show on Friday nights called, LORT Live, where she joins four other lovely ladies in geek/nerd culture and video game talk.

In the next few years, she has aspirations to be in a wonderful marriage to the person she loves, have made her way into the video gaming industry as a web developer and have an awesome community on twitch.