By DAVID GROUT
Media Relations, Grace College

WINONA LAKE — For the fourth year in a row, Grace College and Seminary has achieved a record total enrollment. This year’s 2,303 students is a 5.4 percent increase over the 2014 enrollment. Grace welcomed 1,256 new and returning students to Winona Lake, a record number for undergraduate main campus students.

The growth has occurred in on campus, off-site and online student enrollments. Contributing to this year’s record enrollment are the significant increases in the number of students completing their bachelor’s degrees online and those enrolling in online master’s programs.

The number of online students at Grace College doubled this year. In Grace’s Grace Opportunities for Adult Learners online bachelor’s degree completion program, 96 adults enrolled in fall 2015 compared to 28 in fall 2014. The online graduate studies programs’ enrollment increased from 112 students to 185 students, a 65 percent increase over last year.

Parents and students continue to be encouraged by Grace’s cost savings and high quality Christian education solutions. For their newest initiative called Measure of Grace, beginning this fall, when a student enrolls at Grace, his or her undergraduate tuition rate will never be higher than the first year.

In addition, each consecutive year a student attends Grace, he or she will receive a $500 reduction in tuition. Finally, all textbook rentals are free for every undergraduate, saving an additional $4,800 over their four-year stay.

To meet the demands for the continued rise in enrollment, Grace College broke ground on a three-story, 170-bed dormitory this July. On target to welcome new students in the fall of 2016, the new dormitory will have study locations, community living areas, and will provide an additional residence option choice for students.

Grace’s innovative, market-driven responses to a rapidly changing higher education landscape, increasingly shaped by concerns about college affordability and accessibility, have made Grace a desirable option for students of all ages and educational interests. With this bent toward innovation in mind, Grace has experienced excellent student retention.

In addition to a dedicated and caring faculty and staff, Grace’s innovative three-year accelerated bachelor’s degree program, launched in 2011, allows students to graduate sooner, save a year’s tuition and enter the workforce a year earlier. Yet another option, allowing students to procure a bachelor’s and master’s degree in just four years total, has met with great success as well, graduating Grace’s second class since the offering began.

“We are grateful to students who have made Grace College their choice for higher education,” said Cindy Sisson, vice president of enrollment management at Grace. “The confidence they have placed in the faith-based, affordable excellence we offer accounts for another year of record enrollment for Grace College and Seminary. We consider it a privilege to partner with families by making Christian higher education more affordable so that it remains a viable option for them.”