38,000+ reasons to celebrate: UTSA student enrollment soars to record high

AUGUST 28, 2025 — For the third consecutive year, UTSA experienced record growth in student enrollment for the start of the academic year.

A historic 38,200-plus students are enrolled in classes for the Fall 2025 semester — reflecting a 7% increase over last year’s official enrollment of 35,770 — according to preliminary data from the UTSA Office of Institutional Research and Analysis.

The growth is due largely to the university welcoming the largest incoming class in its history: More than 7,100 freshmen are joining the Roadrunner community this semester, a 19% increase over Fall 2024’s freshman class.

“As we near day one of our historic merger with UT Health San Antonio, this unprecedented increase in UTSA’s student enrollment serves as an important reminder that we’re not just striving to become a bigger university,” said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. “We’re striving to create a university that is grounded in excellence and one that will increase opportunities for even more students to succeed in the classroom and in the professional workforce.”

“Our commitment to student success is at the heart of everything we do, and these milestones are a powerful reflection of that.”

— Heather Shipley

Commitment to student success and access

The university’s record-breaking freshman class follows a recruitment year that also saw a record number of undergraduate applications. UTSA received more than 45,000 undergraduate applications, surpassing the 40,000-mark for the first time in university history.

“Our university continues to attract top students and maintain its momentum as a leader in higher education,” said Lynn Barnes Jr., senior vice provost for strategic enrollment. “We are especially grateful to our recruitment teams, our campus partners, and the colleges for their collective efforts in building relationships and showcasing what makes UTSA so special to thousands of prospective students and their families.”

Among UTSA’s new students are more than 1,700 who are entering the university as part of Bold Promise, a tuition program that covers 100% of tuition and fees for high-achieving students from middle- and low-income Texas families.

That is a 16% increase over the previous year and brings the total number of UTSA students now pursuing their educational and career goals through Bold Promise to 4,944.

Ensuring UTSA is accessible and affordable for students remains a priority, Barnes said. In all, UTSA awarded over $20 million more in financial aid to over 2,200 additional students this fall compared to last year.

Paving the road to graduation

Along with rising enrollment, the university is seeing increases in student success indicators.

Most notably, 82% of first-time, full-time Roadrunners are returning for their second year, marking an all-time high for UTSA’s one-year retention rate.

This deep student engagement also is reflected in a rise in semester credit hours. The historically large freshman class is leading this growth for Fall 2025, having registered for more than 103,000 hours — a 19% increase over last year.

Overall, undergraduate and graduate students are registered for nearly 449,000 semester credit hours, up 9% from last fall.

Finally, when final degrees are counted for Summer 2025, the university expects to have awarded over 7,850 degrees for the 2024-2025 academic year, a 7% increase over degrees awarded in 2023–2024.

"Our commitment to student success is at the heart of everything we do, and these milestones are a powerful reflection of that," said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley. “By investing in academic excellence, career preparation, and comprehensive student support, we’re helping more Roadrunners move confidently from enrollment to graduation. The result is a growing, talented community of UTSA alumni prepared to make a significant impact in their careers and in the world.”

Other highlights from preliminary enrollment data for Fall 2025:

• UTSA’s newest college — the College of AI, Cyber and Computing, which houses the university’s signature programs in computer science and cybersecurity, among others — is now the university’s second-largest college, with nearly 5,350 students. The College for Health, Community and Policy remains the largest academic college, with more than 6,300 students.
• Enrollment also is up on a year-over-year basis in nearly every college, with Klesse College of Engineering and Integrating Design experiencing a 14% hike, the largest percentage increase due to its more than 550 new students.
• Honors College enrollment has grown by 17% over last fall, reaching an all-time high of more than 2,800 students from across all eight academic colleges.
• Enrollment in fully online programs continues to rise, with more than 1,250 students pursuing 100% online programs, a 7% increase over last year. A full 85% of online students are undergraduates; of those, almost half are enrolled in UTSA’s online B.B.A. in cybersecurity.
• The university’s graduate student enrollment also is up 3% over last year, with more than 3,650 and nearly 975 doctoral students enrolled.