Vol. 73, Issue 3
Est. 1981
September 8 - September 15, 2026
THE PAISANO
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community
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Students Grapple with record fall enrollment
By Audrey Villar Editor-in-Chief
U
pwards of 44,000 students are enrolled at UT San Antonio for the fall 2026 semester — a record number for the university. The incoming freshman class, consisting of around 7,000 students, along with 3,000 new transfer students, shows a 5% increase in enrollment — about 2,000 students — since fall 2025. This boost follows a history of heightened enrollment numbers that comes with UT San Antonio’s Strategic Plan Initiative. This plan consolidated UTSA and the UT Health Science Center in 2025, forming UT San Antonio to expand and improve both institutions. When announcing the Strategic Planning Initiative, UT San Antonio stated that “Together, we will build a university defined not only by its scale and value, but also by its impact to make lives better today and for generations to come.” This merger, responsible for the heightened enrollment, raised UT San Antonio in the ranks among Texas research universities. Students expressed their thoughts about increased enrollment at UT San Antonio. The Paisano interviewed three undergraduate UT San Antonio students: freshman nursing major Marinell Thompson, junior marketing major Denali Bell and junior environmental science major
Calliope Morris. Bell expressed his uncertainty about the efficacy of the large class sizes. “I feel like [high enrollment] is good,” Bell stated. “I feel like it has its pros and cons. Good in the way that it gets more students around, more diversity, more people to meet and connect with. But I also think it’s bad because we already do have overcrowding problems.” UT San Antonio retains a high number of students from diverse backgrounds, with more than 70% originating from underrepresented communities. The university is also a Hispanicserving institution, and half of all four-year undergraduates identify as first-generation students. Additionally, 2,100 of the incoming students, approximately 21%, have tuition and mandatory fees covered through UT San Antonio’s Bold Promise program for lowincome families. Conversely, Morris voiced her struggles moving around Main Campus as facilities lack accommodations for the considerable freshman population. “In the JPL one day — it was the second day of school — I was literally shoulder to shoulder with people because of how crowded it was,” Morris stated. While university buildings are crowded by large class sizes, the students interviewed pointed to commuting as the most pressing issue being worsened by increased enrollment. Bell aired his concerns with the continuous parking problem on Main Campus. “In the morning, it’s literally a war to try and find a parking spot with you and every other car in the parking lot,” Bell
Cooper Bryant/The Paisano
asserted. “If I’m gonna be buying a parking pass and I’m not guaranteed a parking spot, I feel they should be way cheaper.” Bell has already been late to class this semester due to overcrowded parking lots, stating that sometimes his only options are to be late to his classes or spend money on the parking garages despite having paid for a parking pass. “It’s just [a] lose-lose situation,” he lamented. “UTSA is accepting too many students that they don’t have enough parking for,” Morris exclaimed. “I think right now their best option is to stop letting so many people in and stop giving people passes for parking that we don’t have.” The effects of this year’s record enrollment stretch beyond Main Campus. The dormitories can only accommodate about 4,500 students, leaving at least 2,500 freshmen to find housing elsewhere. Bell was unable to get a dorm assignment for his 2024 freshman year, obligating him to find other room and board.
“That sucks, because trying to go to college, I can’t even go to a dorm. I have to immediately get into an apartment, and I don’t have a car, so I’m having to find other ways to get to campus. It’s a lot. “It’s put a strain on me financially, definitely. Because, [there is] not really enough space to live on campus, which made me have to find a place off campus. And then living off-campus, obviously, I have to pay for a lot more things on my own in my own apartment.” Thompson expressed that despite concerns with increasing enrollment, there are positive aspects. “It’s definitely a positive that so many people are getting their education and wanting to better themselves and do that. However, more infrastructure needs to be set in place to support all the new people coming in.” The university has expressed a commitment to prepare its students for after-college careers and voices confidence in the advantageousness of expanding UT San Antonio programs.
Budget shortfall threatens to put scholarships in jeopardy By Johnpaul Buwule Marketing Manager The San Antonio Education Partnership — an organization that provides scholarships and college advising — is preparing to halt scholarship distribution pending the budget proposal that would cut the partnership’s funding by $2.1 million. San Antonio’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2027 has made numerous cuts to compensate for the city’s $158 million deficit. Numerous nonprofit organizations face defunding under the proposal. Reductions in the General Fund have resulted in organizations, such as SAEP, enduring significant budget cuts. The SAEP was established in 1989 to address educational disparities and assist low-income youth in their pursuit of higher education. Since the organization’s inception, it has financially supported more than 20,000 students in higher education. 73% of the served population have been first-generation students, and 76% of the aided population came from households with low to moderate income. In the past year, the partnership gave out $2.28 million in scholarships, with San Antonio’s $2.1 million composing a majority of that funding. In addition to scholarships, the organization has partnered with high schools to offer over 5,800 high school students college advising. In an interview with The Paisano, SAEP CEO Ana Acevedo explained the significance of the organization’s contributions to students within the greater San Antonio area. “If the city cuts our $2.1 million, that means we have current college students, who started the semester in August, who are expecting to receive a scholarship from San Antonio Education Partnership. And we won’t have the funding to give those scholarships.
So, that would impact close to 3,000 students attending local colleges and universities,” Acevedo stated. The organization’s scholarship helps support students attending community college and public or private universities. About 30% of the 3,000 individuals who receive scholarships are UT San Antonio students. “Every year it fluctuates, but we tend to have about 900 or more students on scholarship at UTSA,” Acevedo stated. In 2025, the organization gave out $2.2 million in scholarships and, according to the budget proposal, financially supported 3,349 students. City Manager Erik Walsh’s proposal attests that investments in other local scholarships have increased since the organization’s founding, prompting for SAEP’s portion of the General Fund to be cut. “As a result of this additional investment, the budget recommends reducing the SAEP scholarship program,” the FY27 proposal outlined. When Acevedo and her team asked the city about funding cuts, she explained that they received the same explanation; however, Acevedo clarified that the organization’s scholarship function is more malleable than other local promise program scholarships. “The promise programs only cover tuition, and there is so much more associated [with] cost of attendance to be a college student, and that is really where our scholarships help,” Acevedo said. The proposal referenced the AlamoPromise and San Antonio Ready to Work, which both help cover the cost of tuition but do not provide an opportunity for recipients to use their scholarship outside of those aforementioned means. Without the $2.1 million, Acevedo suggests
that students could experience difficulty accessing the organization’s workshops or college advising because of the lack of scholarship availability. “The concern about not having scholarship funding is that we don’t know if the school districts will want to continue to have more advising in the high school [setting],” Acevedo expressed. “We are also concerned that students won’t be as motivated to attend the advising sessions and workshops if we take away the scholarship component.” City Council members and Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones have signaled their continued support for nonprofits, with council members Edward Mungia and Sukh Kaur completely opposing any budget cuts to nonprofit organizations. Ortiz Jones has taken a different route, advocating for fiscal consciousness and seeking alternative routes for funding. After talks with the mayor and multiple city council
hearings, Acevedo remains hopeful that the budget will be reinstated. “What’s very promising is that there are a number of council members and the mayor who are vocal about their desire to reinstate the funding,” Acevedo stated. “The mayor also said she would like to double our scholarship funding.” The City has expressed interest in sustaining funding for SAEP; however, the biggest barrier is where the funding will come from. On July 24, Ortiz Jones issued a letter to businesses and philanthropic groups, requesting that they enter a commitment to support nonprofit organizations. No business has stepped forward to commit to the mayor’s proposal. If the city council chooses not to amend the proposal and passes it, then 3,000 college students, including 900 UT San Antonio students, will go without a scholarship from SAEP this academic year.
Christopher Valdovinos/The Paisano