Texas Tech has reached a benchmark in student enrollment with a school-record 30,049 students signed up for classes in the fall semester, Chancellor Kent Hance said Monday.

The final numbers are up from 28,422 last year.

Tech's previous record enrollment was 28,549 in the fall 2003 semester.

Surpassing 30,000 puts Tech ahead of all but two of seven schools vying for Tier One status, the prestigious national research university designation.

Tech has more students than the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The University of Houston leads the Tier One-hopeful schools that have released enrollment numbers with 36,999, and the University of North Texas enrolled 36,206 students this semester.

Enrollment numbers for the University of Texas at Dallas were unavailable.

Hance said the increase shows the university is well on its way to reaching its goal of 40,000 students by 2020.

But, he said, the increase in student population will not adversely affect the Tech experience.

"Our culture will not change; our quality of students will not change," Hance said. "Only our numbers will increase."

Tech saw enrollment go up 6 percent overall, with a 5 percent undergraduate increase and an 11 percent increase in graduate students.

James Burkhalter, associate vice president for student affairs, said he expects enrollment to continue to grow, but doesn't think yearly linear growth is likely.

"From year to year that percentage may vary somewhat, but I think overall we're going to continue to grow until we reach our goal of 40,000," Burkhalter said.

The jump in the number of graduate students can be attributed partially to professionals going to graduate school in tough economic times, said Fred Hartmeister, dean of the graduate school.

But he also credited high retention and an increased focus on recruiting graduate school students.

Like Burkhalter, Hartmeister said he expects continued growth, but not necessarily as much as this semester.

"I can't say we will always grow at 10 percent from one year to the next," he said. "But we certainly don't want to take a step backwards at any point in the future."

Continuing growth while maintaining the same academic standards will not be difficult, university President Guy Bailey said.

He pointed out that the number of applications was up this year, but the acceptance rate was down.

"That's a great indicator of improvement in quality," Bailey said.

Building enrollment is not simply recruiting incoming freshmen, but also focusing on retaining students and boosting the number of graduate and transfer students, he said.

The number of transfer students increased 11 percent to more that 2,400, and the first- to second-year retention rate went from 80 percent to 81 percent.

"In almost every area, we've increased and we're very pleased," Bailey said. "It's doing every thing right in enrollment management."

Student Government Association President Suzanne Williams said it is exciting to be a Tech student when the school reached 30,000 students, but it is more exciting that the university is committed to retaining its culture.

She said it is important that Tech holds on to its small-town feel, where students know and greet each other, even as the population continues to grow.

"It is great that more students are able to experience the family of Red Raiders here at Texas Tech," Williams said.

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TEXAS TECH/University tops 30,000 mark, says culture, quality of students not adversely affected