Sun Gazette: Bucking trend, Marymount sees big uptick in interest, enrollment

Sun Gazette: Bucking trend, Marymount sees big uptick in interest, enrollment

 

Defying recent national higher education trends, Marymount University has recorded significant increases from last year in both applications and enrollment deposits for the 2022-23 academic year, university officials said.

Leading up to the fall 2022 semester, a total of 3,551 applications were submitted from prospective students, a 44 percent jump compared to applications that the university received prior to the 2021-22 academic year.

The 2022 figure represents both the largest total number of applications that Marymount has received, as well as the highest year-to-year growth percentage in applications received over the last 16 years of recorded admissions data available.

This year’s total of 398 deposits from new Saints is a 20 percent increase from last year’s total of 331, which stands as the highest year-to-year growth percentage in deposits over the last 16 years. The total deposit number for fall 2022 is also the highest that Marymount has recorded since fall 2018.

“At a time when colleges and universities nationally are still striving to fill their classrooms and recover from the impacts of COVID, this remarkable growth at Marymount is a testament to how our comprehensive and career-focused academic programs are incredibly valuable and highly sought after by the next generation,” said Marymount president Irma Becerra.

“When the pandemic struck, it would have been understandable for an institution to solely focus on just staying afloat – but we decided to not only survive but thrive, and we’re seeing the results of our joint efforts coming into focus,” Becerra said.

University administrators cited a variety of measures taken over the past year to explain the growth, including an increase in outreach, streamlining the application process and promoting Marymount’s selection as Virginia’s first and thus far only Hispanic-Serving Institution.

Marymount also credited the launch of new wrestling programs (men’s in 2022 and women’s in 2023) and the addition of numerous new academic programs.

“These latest application and enrollment statistics are numbers we should be proud of, and it’s all thanks to our dedicated faculty, staff and administrators who have helped make this possible,” said William Bisset, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs at the university.

Click here to read the original article on the Sun Gazette’s website.