Texas Tech enrollment tops 45,000 students for first time - fox34.com

That number represents an increase of more than 3,859 students from a year ago, capping five straight years of enrollment growth at Tech. The student body has also grown by more than 12 percent over just the past two years. President Lawrence Schovanec credited strategic recruiting and a focus on making a Tech education accessible as the drivers behind the climb.

For people here, this is not an abstract number on a university press release. More students on campus means more bodies filling apartments along University Avenue, more tables turning at restaurants near 19th Street, and more demand for everything from parking to part-time jobs. Lubbock's economy has long run in close step with Tech's fortunes, and a student body pushing toward 46,000 puts new pressure on housing and transit in ways the city will feel well beyond the campus edge.

The enrollment milestone lands at a school that was not even a blip on the national radar for size a decade ago. It now sits among the larger public universities in Texas.