CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas A&M University-Kingsville has recently seen a significant increase in students enrolled after years of decline.
Since the fall of last year, the university has reported an 8% increase, mainly among local students.
University president Doctor Robert Vela said the increase is attributed to more outreach in Coastal Bend schools and the university having more scholarships and research grants.
"To be sure that our students know that they have a home here, for us it has been an effort around building relationships authentic relationships and ensuring that students know that A & M Kingsville is an option for them," Vela said.
Gerardo Garza and Raelynn Ayala are both Kingsville locals.
They say they chose TAMUK to not only be close to their family but because they also saw the school as a great opportunity for their education.
"The biggest opportunity at TAMUK is the handshake program that they have that gives a lot of opportunities to the engineers to get out into the field and get more work experience," Garza said.
Dr. Vela said the school has mainly seen an increase in local students wanting to stay in the area.
Vela said retention rates also went up by 5%, he said when you can retain and bring more students in, enrollment goes up.
"But at the end of the day, our competitive edge is really a family-oriented community really designed that our students graduate and prosper," Vela said.
Vela said he is proud that more locals are choosing TAMUK for their education and that it is not just people from all over the Coastal Bend.
"For now, our investment is in our backyard, and we want to make sure that everyone in our backyard feels that this university is an option for them," Vela said.
Students at TAMUK are grateful for this opportunity.
"Kingsville is a real hands-on school. So, instead of just sitting in the classroom, we are all out there in the field, actually learning," Ayala said.
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