LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – As Texas Tech University celebrates record-breaking enrollment, it’s working through the growing pains of making space for nearly 46,000 Red Raiders.
Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec said the university projected about 2,000 additional students would start classes this year, but they ended up with closer to 4,000 students enrolled.
“We spend a lot of time talking about planning and how we strategize to accommodate next year’s class, but this is larger than we even anticipated,” Schovanec said.
Schovanec said the impact of the success of athletics cannot be discounted. Plus, more than 15,000 people applied during a 10-day window in October when the Apply Texas process was free.
“There was sort of just a perfect storm of awareness and excitement about what was going on at Texas Tech,” he said.
While the record-breaking enrollment is exciting, students say they are feeling the squeeze.
“I just feel like there’s a lot of people everywhere,” freshman Olivia Kissinger said.
“Parking, can’t get a spot. My class is over-seated, I had to stand in the back of class at one point,” Moses Lim, another freshman, said.
Still, Schovanec says Texas Tech is ready to handle this many students.
“Oh, yes, we are. But you might say, well, if you were, did everybody who wanted to live on campus get a bed? And the answer is no.”
While 95% of first-year students live on campus, the university was 1,000 beds short of demand. Those students are living in university-supported housing off campus.
Schovanec said the school’s regents have already approved construction of a new residence hall on 19th Street. Students are expected to move in there in the spring of 2029.
When that happens, Schovanec said Tech will demolish the Horn/Knapp dorm. A new dorm will be built there, with a net increase of about 1,300 beds.
“So, the next couple years, we’ll have to manage this the best we can,” he said.
Schovanec said a new parking garage will be built near 19th Street and University Avenue. Another will come with the new dorm at the current Horn/Knapp site.
“I’m 100th on the waitlist to park my car like by my dorm, so I have to park it actually by the soccer fields and I have to take like two buses to get back to my dorm,” freshman Sloane Bowie said.
Before those parking garages are constructed, Schovanec says students will have to get used to the system of parking out west and riding the bus.
“Yesterday and today, I went and drove around on campus just to see what it looked like in the parking lots. And there are spots available. They may not be where the students want to park. If they want to park in front of Holden Hall, it’s not going to happen,” he said.
Regarding students saying they had to stand in class this week, Schovanec said the university does not overbook rooms.
“When you have 45,000 people here, there’s going to be some hiccups the first week. And I’m sure that if a person really was confronted with that problem, it was probably fixed right away,” he said.
The university is laying out plans for a new agriculture sciences building, a new design and architecture building, and additional space for the Rawls College of Business.
“So, do we have the infrastructure to accommodate this growth? Yes, we will,” Schovanec said.
He said the world needs more Red Raiders, but it’s essential Texas Tech never loses what makes it special in the process.
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