This year’s fulltime enrollment at the University of Tampa is approximately 3,700. It’s another record fall class for Tampa’s private, “medium-sized comprehensive” university. The growth is as obvious as four new residence halls in five years, 30 new fulltime faculty on board this year and a notable — and noticeable — hike in foreign students, especially from Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
The growth, however, needs context. As recently as 1994, fulltime enrollment was only 1,420. Speculation was rife that the small school with the iconic minarets might not make it. Scenarios of UT becoming the downtown campus of the University of South Florida were not far-fetched.
“Ten years ago we were a school of second choice,” explains Grant Donaldson, UT’s director of public information. “Now we’re increasingly becoming a school of first choice. When students visit, they are impressed. This is now a highly technologically advanced campus.”