Students are seen on campus at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio on Thursday, September 12, 2025. Enrollment declined by 12% from last fall to the start of this school year.
Christopher Lee/Staff Photographer
Our Lady of the Lake University’s enrollment has declined by 12% since last fall, furthering a downward trend in student numbers over the past decade.
This fall, the West Side Catholic university had about 1,550 undergraduate and graduate students, down from 1,756 students a year ago. OLLU has been in a downward enrollment slump for the past 10 years, with enrollment declining by 47% since 2015, when it enrolled 3,334 students.
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The university’s loss of students has spawned budget deficits, cost-cutting measures, the elimination of degree programs and a search for new ways for the 131-year-old institution, a symbol of Hispanic pride and hope, to recover.
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OLLU eliminated 16 academic programs last year and has since launched initiatives to stabilize its enrollment, including a three-year bachelor’s degree program and a “no-cost master’s” degree plan. Earlier this year, the university set a target of enrolling 1,800 students this fall.
“OLLU’s Fall 2026 enrollment momentum continues to grow, with 1,608 students now enrolled as the university works toward its goal of 1,800 Saints. That puts OLLU just 192 students away from reaching this year’s enrollment goal,” university officials said Aug. 17 in an online newsletter.
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But after the withdrawals of about 50 students, the university realized it wouldn’t make its enrollment goal. Teresa Niño, vice president for marketing and communications, said delays in getting accreditation for the three-year degree and the rollout of a new enrollment management strategy were key factors in the dip.
“Things just weren’t going fast enough for us to aim for (1,800 students in) 2026,” Niño said. “More than anything, what we want to do is assure people that we’re aiming for 2027.”
In response, the university has brought in an enrollment consultant to address the dip. OLLU hired Shobi Sivadasan in May as a consultant, and university leaders appointed her in July as vice president for enrollment and strategy.
Sivadasan has spent 18 years building enrollment strategies, advising universities, colleges and education technology companies on growth strategies, according to her LinkedIn profile.
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“Students and families are asking different questions about higher education today — about cost, time to degree, career outcomes, and return on
investment,” OLLU President Abel Chávez said in a release. “We are responding with new leadership, three-year degree programs and sophisticated data-informed recruitment.”
Shobi Sivadasan was recently named vice president for enrollment and strategy at Our Lady of the Lake University.
Courtesy / OLLU
Enrollment efforts
OLLU’s new vice president for enrollment and strategy brings extensive experience in undergraduate, graduate and international enrollment, financial aid, enrollment operations and strategy, along “with a track record of enrollment growth across multiple institutions,” the university said.
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Before joining OLLU, she served as vice president for enrollment management at Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, California where first-year enrollment grew 13% in fall 2023 to reach the college’s largest incoming class in four years.
“Enrollment challenges are rarely the result of a single factor, and what we experienced this year reflects both internal circumstances and a rapidly changing higher education environment,” Sivadasan said of OLLU’s numbers. “Our focus is not on looking backward. It is on what we do next.”
She highlighted Lake Express, the university’s new three-year bachelor’s degree program as an innovative program that expands access to higher education.
Sivadasan will work closely with Provost Alan Silva to identify and develop programs for students and ways faculty can help with retention, Niño said. She’ll also work in coordination with Tom Norris, executive director of operations and athletics, “on attracting athletes and enriching their college experience,” and with OLLU’s divisions of marketing, finance and student affairs.
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“She often says that recruitment and retention is everyone’s job in the university,” Niño said.
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Chávez noted that OLLU’s finances depend on student tuition, so the university’s ability to recruit, retain and graduate students is “inseparable” from the school’s ability to fulfill its mission of making Catholic education more attainable.
Saint Mary’s College of California hired Sivadasan in 2022 as its vice president for enrollment management. At the time, then-president Richard Plumb said Sivadasan “has a proven record of increasing enrollment at multiple institutions.”
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The college recently reported a nearly 18% one-year enrollment increase, from 588 students last year to 693 this fall.
Sivadasan previously served as vice provost for enrollment management at Missouri University of Science and Technology. During her time there, the university reported a 24% increase in first-year applications and a 7.6% rise in first-year student enrollment in fall 2021. She also was credited with a 10% increase in graduate enrollment at the University of New Haven.