With new data showing growth at Del Mar College, the Corpus Christi community college is now serving slightly more students than Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, the other institution of higher education in town.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shared preliminary enrollments for fall 2025 for institutions across the state this week. Student counts at Texas colleges and universities hit a record high this fall.

Enrollments surpassed pre-pandemic totals for each sector of higher education for the first time this fall, according to a coordinating board news release.

What to know about Del Mar College

This fall, Del Mar College reported nearly 11,700 enrollments.

Del Mar College’s enrollment grew by about 14% between fall 2024 and fall 2025, according to preliminary numbers. That’s a jump of more than 1,400 students.

The college’s growth also slightly outpaced growth across all of Texas’ public two-year colleges, which increased by more than 6% from fall 2024.

This fall, the college rolled out a new tuition-waiver program for full-time, first-time college students, eliminating tuition and fee costs. At the same time, the college has increased enrollments in dual credit programs, which are also free for students from eligible high schools.

Based on preliminary fall 2025 enrollments, Del Mar College is now the 13th-largest public community college or junior college in the state. The college jumped one place in the size ranking, inching past Laredo College, which grew at a smaller rate.

How does Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi compare?

When both community colleges and four-year institutions are ranked by size, Del Mar College and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are back to back, placing 34th and 35th, respectively.

Last fall, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi had about 1,000 more students than Del Mar College. But this fall, the community college reported about 300 more enrollments than the university.

The university has about 11,400 students, according to preliminary enrollment numbers.

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi reported a slight increase of just over 1% since last fall. That amounts to 132 students.

What about other schools in the Coastal Bend and Texas?

Enrollments at Texas A&M University-Kingsville remained steady, with just 14 additional enrollments between 2024 and 2025.

Texas A&M University-Kingsville reported 6,876 preliminary fall 2025 enrollments.

Across the state, public four-year universities grew by 2.7%.

Public two-year colleges serve more students across Texas than four-year universities, according to the preliminary fall 2025 numbers.

In Beeville, Coastal Bend College saw a slight drop in enrollments, falling by about 40 students to 3,862 for fall 2025.

However, both Coastal Bend College and Del Mar College saw increases in state-funded workforce continuing education enrollments compared to the previous year.

Certified enrollment numbers will be finalized later this year.

Data for more institutions for fall 2022 through fall 2025 is available online from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board at bit.ly/highered2025.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Here’s which Coastal Bend colleges are growing in 2025