Numbers from the UT System Productivity Dashboard show UT-Arlington surpassing UT-San Antonio as the second largest school in the UT System regarding student enrollment, following UT-Austin.

Enrollment at UTA jumped from 28,085 students during fall 2009 to 32,975 students during fall 2010, according to the UT System Productivity Dashboard. This is the largest increase any school in the UT System has experienced in a single year during the past decade. The enrollment numbers for fall 2011 have not been calculated yet.

UTA is one of the schools in the UT System that participates in the Coordinated Admission Program, or CAP, which allows students who were not accepted into UT-Austin to attend another school in the UT System for a year before transferring to UT-Austin.

Lee Einsweiler, architecture lecturer at UT, said the rise in enrollment is unlikely to have an impact on Arlington as a whole, a city with a population of 365,438 according to 2010 census results. But, Einsweiler said the increase in enrollment could offer opportunities for new student-related businesses.

“If Arlington is creative about opportunities near the campus, they could capture some new activity,” Einsweiler said.
Arlington deputy city manager Trey Yelverton said he has noticed UTA administrators implementing strategies to retain more freshman students

“The city has helped relating to the retention side by doing things that are complementary to a student lifestyle,” Yelverton said.

Yelverton said the downtown area near the Arlington campus has seen business growth in the past two to three years.

“We’ve seen additional restaurants that have come into the area that are not fast-food restaurants but sit-down, quality restaurants,” Yelverton said.

Along with the increase in enrollment at UTA, Yelverton said the crime rate in the city has dropped this year by about 10 percent.

“I think the more activity and lifestyle there is, the safer it feels,” Yelverton said. “But I also know that as more people come to the area, you are going to end up with some more petty crime. It’s nothing of a serious nature. It’s more of a nuisance nature.”

Printed on Friday, January 27, 2012 as: CAP increases UT-Arlington's student body