Small Colleges, Universities Adapt In Face Of Pandemic Enrollment Loss
Carley Lanich
South Bend Tribune
MISHAWAKA – The anticipation had been building for months.
Filtering into Bethel University’s new Lehman Family Training Center on Friday, high school seniors paused under a bright blue BU banner and waited for instructions on their next activity: a scavenger hunt to get to know all the spots on campus where they’d live and learn over the next four years.
When administrators had to cancel the same Pilot Preview Day for admitted students last year, still so much was unknown about the pandemic, including whether students would even choose to live on a college campus when so much could be done online.
But, after a year of learning from home, Penn High School senior Kate Sherwood said she couldn’t wait to start her college career.
“It’s been hard to wait this school year,” she said. “I kind of wish I would have graduated early.”
As the pandemic stretches into its second year, higher education officials are gaining a better understanding of its effect on student enrollment.
A new report this week from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows a 4.5% decline in undergraduate enrollment this spring – a reality that only builds pressure among small institutions already grappling with enrollment loss before the pandemic.
Although not all independent colleges were struggling, Barbara Mistick said, those that were will feel the brunt of losses across all major income sources, including tuition, room and board fees and auxiliary revenue typically collected through athletics and community events.
“If an institution were struggling beforehand, all of these factors multiply,” said Mistick, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. “It will make it difficult, no doubt, to come back strong post-pandemic.”
Enrollments decline across St. Joseph County
Independent colleges across St. Joseph County saw enrollment decline this fall.
Bethel enrolled 1,362 total students in its fall 2020 semester, university spokesman Lissa Diaz said. That’s compared to 1,450 last year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The loss comes following years of declining enrollment at Bethel, which recorded more than 1,700 students in fall 2015 and more than 2,100 students five years before that.
Terrell Elam, Bethel’s vice president of enrollment management, said the university saw its greatest decreases this year among first-time freshmen and nontraditional adult students, who may have taken a gap year or decided to work to support their families during the pandemic.
Elam estimates Bethel lost about $1 million, or a tenth of its budget, because of its smaller freshman class, and that’s a loss the university will continue to feel for the next three years as the class of 2024 progresses through college.
However, 80% of its current students returned to campus this fall, improving upon the university’s average 72% to 74% retention rate.
Bethel received $1.2 million in its first round of federal aid last spring and another $2 million this winter – some of which the university will use to help sustain enrollment losses.
“We managed our funds really well,” Elam said. “But if students hadn’t responded and retention hadn’t improved, we would’ve had a different conversation.”
Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College both saw smaller declines. Saint Mary’s enrolled about 20 fewer students this fall and Holy Cross reported only seven fewer students.
Representatives from both colleges say their institutions’ close relationship with Notre Dame helped keep enrollment steady.
“The connection to Notre Dame is a big advantage in the eyes of prospective students and families,” said Sarah Gallagher Dvorak, director of admission at Saint Mary’s.
Michael Griffin, senior vice president at Holy Cross, called the college’s 2017 sale of 75 acres to Notre Dame a reset for the school once faced with a bleak financial outlook. Now, the college is focusing less on enrollment growth and more on academic strategy.
“We now have students who can come to Holy Cross, get their bachelor’s degree and have a guaranteed spot in their master’s degree at Notre Dame,” Griffin said. “That’s a very attractive pathway for students.”
Finding ‘the right mix’ to reverse decline
Bethel – the small, Mishawaka-based Christian liberal arts school – is not alone in feeling the sting of lost enrollment.
Private, nonprofit institutions across the Great Lakes region have enrolled nearly 95,000 fewer students over the last decade, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Saint Joseph’s College suspended programs at its Rensselaer campus in 2017 and Valparaiso University announced in 2018 that it would shutter its 140-year-old law school. Both cited growing financial challenges in their decisions to close.
Valparaiso was among hundreds of institutions to furlough employees at the start of the pandemic, and this winter, the University of Evansville announced plans to tackle its operating deficit through an “institutional realignment plan” that has already brought 19 faculty buyouts and could end multiple degree programs by 2022.
Mistick said she doesn’t fear the pandemic will drive struggling independent colleges to close, but that these institutions will need to adapt quickly to stay relevant in a changing economy.
“The pandemic is really a restart button,” Mistick said. “People will come out of the pandemic and have an opportunity to be market-responsive. They have to have the right mix of programs.”
The right mix for Bethel means investments in a new extension studies program, expanded online education opportunities and partnerships with local employers to help working students reduce their tuition.
The university started down this path before the pandemic hit as a part of a five-year “GROW” enrollment initiative.
“We’re constantly evaluating the courses that we offer,” Elam said. “If you’re not constantly changing and evolving into what you see happening, you’re not going to make it.”
Recruiting through in-person experience
Bethel is also tapping into team sports as a recruiting tool, introducing such new programs as men’s volleyball, esports, bowling and swimming in the last several years. The university opened its new, $3.9 million Lehman Family Training Center last month.
About half of Bethel’s student body participates in athletics, Elam said, adding that retention remains high among those belonging to a team.
It’s a strategy that’s worked well at Trine University in Angola, which has grown its enrollment from about 2,800 students in fall 2014 to more than 3,500 students this fall.
Trine has doubled down on capital improvements in recent years, opening new residence halls, a new ice arena and a multipurpose athletic building – all serving as attractive recruitment tools when prospective students tour the campus, said Kim Bennett, vice president for enrollment management.
“A campus visit is one of the key reasons a student chooses a school or not,” Bennett said.
With vaccine production ramping up, enrollment managers say they’re hopeful more in-person recruitment opportunities can return soon. They say the value of in-person learning has never been so clear.
“The pandemic has taught me that there is absolutely a place for small college campuses,” said Griffin, the Holy Cross senior vice president. “The screens and the Zooms won’t cut it. To learn best, we need some colleges that are small and personal.”
However, with FAFSA completion down nearly 10% in Indiana, according to the National College Attainment Network, some fear enrollment losses could continue. Others say it’s just a matter of waiting out the pandemic.
“Everything is later this year,” said Gallagher Dvorak, the St. Mary’s admissions director. Students are “applying to schools later, they’re applying for financial aid later, and they’re making their final decisions later.”
Students at Bethel’s Pilot Preview Day said the pandemic did delay some of their campus visits, but it never changed their minds about entering college right after graduation.
“I want to be here,” said Presley Baca of Plymouth. “I want to get my college years over with. I just want to start my career.”
This article is made available through Hoosier State Press Association.