When Franklin College students said they wanted to be in-person as much as possible, the college listened.
That commitment to in-person learning was key to the college posting an enrollment increase as other schools experienced a decline, said Kerry Prather, Franklin College president.
The school’s pandemic response plan was built around continuing some in-person instruction, but requiring masks, and moving to virtual activities and meetings to minimize staff and student exposure to COVID-19.
Nearly 900 full-time students enrolled at Franklin College last fall, up 2.3% — about 20 students — from 2019, according to Franklin College data. It was the largest class in five years, Prather said.
Contributing factors were increases in freshmen and transfer students, and retention, he said. There were 314 total new students on campus last fall, including 293 freshman and 21 transfer students, data shows.
“Incoming and returning students were very emphatic that they wanted to return in person to campus. They communicated to us that they wanted to be in person and have as much of the traditional experience as possible,” Prather said. “They got a dose of the virtual experience. They saw it did what it needed to do, but it wasn’t the experience they wanted.”
Franklin College has stayed in person for much of the school year, with the exception of a week in October and the final three weeks of the semester. Both times, the college shifted to a virtual format due to a rise in the number of positive cases and quarantines among students.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported an overall 2.7% decrease in enrollment at Indiana colleges and universities for the spring 2020 semester, and a 4.7% decrease for the spring 2021 semester.
The data further indicated four-year private schools such as Franklin College and four-year state schools were less impacted by the pandemic than two-year colleges, which saw a 12% decline in enrollment across the country.
At Franklin College, the pandemic necessitated a significant shift in recruitment strategy.
There were no organized in-person visits after the campus closed in March 2020, at the onset of the pandemic. Students learned about the college by reading about it online and through virtual meetings with staff.
Campus tours have made a comeback, but meetings with admissions counselors are still conducted virtually, Prather said.
On the athletics side, recruiters struggled to see students play fall sports and establish relationships when many high schools had visitor restrictions, he said.
“Our business has been flipped upside down,” said Thandabantu Maceo, vice president of strategic enrollment management.
“The things that we traditionally do to drive enrollment from start to finish are not in play during this recruitment cycle.”
College officials hope to see enrollment continue to climb next fall, but it is too early to tell if that will happen, Maceo said.
The college’s goal this fall is 310 new freshmen and 25 transfers.
Fall 2021 enrollment will likely be comparable or ahead of last year’s based on trends the college is already seeing. But the enrollment picture won’t fully develop until closer to the start of the school year in August, Maceo said. Students are about 45 to 60 days behind on the traditional college applications timeline, he said.
Maceo is optimistic the class will be more diverse than ever, as more people of color and out-of-state residents are applying this year, he said.
