Enrollment figures released for fall semester

University student enrollment figures are now official heading into the final weeks of the fall semester.

LaTonya McCoy, registrar for the University, said official enrollment numbers certified with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board are 6,163 students for the fall semester. The Patriot Talon attempted to obtain enrollment figures three weeks ago from the registrar’s office.

Sherri Whatley, chief information officer, said official numbers are not finalized and certified until mid-to-late November. “Initial fall reporting edits are not done until Oct. 15 and the extensive data review, data checking and processing can continue for up to four-to-five weeks,” Whatley said.

An investigation by the Patriot Talon found archived reports of preliminary enrollment figures reported by early September on the University website.

Whatley said enrollment numbers released around the census date, which is the 12th day of classes begin to be processed in mid-October. “To the best of my knowledge, the official enrollment information is not released earlier and only students officially enrolled as of the census date will be included in the report processing,” she said.

The University changed for the a smaller software program called POISE to the new PeopleSoft Campus Solutions student information system, which is a comprehensive suite of software specifically designed for the changing needs of higher education institutions.

The Poise software program allowed from about 200 students to more than 20,000 students. PeopleSoft is being used at more than 800 campuses in more than 20 countries, according to the Peoplesoft website. “This being the first semester using our new student information system has required extra data verification efforts and attention to detail,” she said.

Whatley said a collaborative effort with the University of Texas at Arlington, University of Texas at Dallas and the University allowed all three schools the opportunity to use the same reports for data processing.

“The University by itself could not afford to purchase the PeopleSoft program on its own so collaboration with the other schools help us get the state of the art software,” Whatley said.