The number of students enrolled as freshman in the fall has decreased between 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year 249 new students enrolled for Milligan University while only 215 enrolled this year.
Director of Admissions, Marty Riley, stated that COVID-19 is the reason for this year’s decreased student enrollment.
“What has made COVID especially difficult was the fact that we could not attend college fairs, visit high schools or church youth groups, or many of the places where we connect with interested students,” said Riley.“Even though COVID has negatively affected our enrollment numbers, our five-year new student enrollment average is very solid. We see our lower 2020 and 2021 enrollment numbers as outliers and are fully expecting to bounce back strong in fall 2022.”
There are five new additions to the admissions staff this year to help increase future enrollment. Zac Davis, Bekah Saylor and Hannah Mortimer as recruiters. Chelsey Harness as a new athletic recruiter and Alex Kees as the Enrollment Communications Coordinator.
According to Mr. Riley, some possible consequences of the lower enrollment numbers and new admission staff could possibly affect parts of Milligan’s budget as well as student life.
“Having a new staff gives us an excellent opportunity to build team chemistry and allow new leaders to emerge on the team,” said Riley. “This is also an excellent chance to work on important qualities such as teamwork and servant leadership. I am very optimistic about the direction we are headed and see nothing but great things ahead for our team.”