By Rhiannon Saegert/managing editor
District enrollment increased .5 percent from spring 2013, continuing a trend of slowly increasing districtwide enrollment.
Enrollment on TR Campus increased 8 percent, the largest individual increase in the district.
TR president Tahita Fulkerson attributes this to the campus’ positive approach.
“We try to be aggressively friendly to students and visitors,’ she said. “People report in surveys that they like that.”
She said TR’s location also contributes to its enrollment numbers. Many students ride buses to school or catch rides with family members who work in downtown Fort Worth.
“Our location certainly helps,” she said. “We are seeing a slight increase in the number of fall students, persisting into spring.”
Fulkerson said students are enrolling in the afternoon and evening classes TR added last fall.
“We believed students wouldn’t come for later classes, but we’re learning,” she said.
TR’s fall and spring enrollments have steadily increased since the campus opened.
SE Campus had a 4 percent increase in enrollment, the second-largest increase in the district. SE registrar Juan Torres said it’s most likely because of growth in the Arlington and Mansfield areas.
“They just added a new high school in Mansfield. That whole area is growing,” he said.
SE’s spring enrollment has been increasing since 2012.
“It’s kind of a healthy increase from last year,” Torres said.
NW Campus president Elva LeBlanc said the small decrease in NW Campus’ enrollment, 223 students, shows that enrollment on NW has reached a plateau.
“We had been increasing every semester,” LeBlanc said. “We are, to a great extent, at capacity. Things stabilized. They’ve been stabilizing for the past year or so.”
LeBlanc said the campus will have more room to expand when its aviation program moves to its new location at Alliance Airport. The move is scheduled for summer.
“That’ll give us a little more wiggle room for students,” she said.
